What does the first day of school look like?

As a teacher, the first day of school looks like an end to all things summer.  No more lazy afternoon naps, long leisurely lunches with girlfriends, countless afternoons poolside, or late night movies.  The start of a new school year means schedules, agendas, curriculum, and headaches.  It also means bright eyed students eager to meet their new teachers and fresh starts.  It means a whole new school year.  Like it or not...they are coming.

However, this year, I find myself thinking of so much more as the new school year approaches.  I'm plagued with bittersweet heartache for not only me, but also several of my friends.

I think of my young friend who recently gave birth to her first precious child.  She is now face to face with the moment of truth.  Will she be able to live knowing that her sweet baby is in the care of another while she teaches 22 second graders? She will be fine, but your heart will break.  I'm sorry my friend.

I think of my friends from college who, at this very moment, are driving their first born son to Stillwater Oklahoma where he will attend classes and play basketball for the OSU Cowboys.  I know that if it's making me misty eyed remembering the little boy with dimpled cheeks and loads of blond curls, I can only imagine how hard it is for his parents right now.  I still remember holding him as a baby during the countless number of MSU basketball games we all attended through college.  I'm having a hard time really coming to terms with him being a grown man already.  It is now his turn to take all of his years on the court (along with those same precious curls and dimples) and use them in Oklahoma.  Best wishes to the Sager family.         

I think of the countless mommies who are in the same boat as I am.  The butterflies that they must be feeling while worrying about the first day of high school for their first born child.  Byron Nelson may be an awesome school, but it's big, and I'm worried.  I just can't help it.  He is my baby afterall.

I think about the changes in store for my youngest who will be playing sports at school for the first time this year.  He will be pushed and pushed by a man who is not his father.  A man, over whom, I have no powers.  A coach.  Ugh.  Can he survive?  I'm worried.  I just can't help it.  He is my baby after all.

And I think of all the mommies who will be sending their precious babies off to school either for the first time, or for the seventh time...it never gets easier.  Mommies everywhere get nervous about the first day of school.  Will their teacher love their baby enough? 

So, to all of my teacher friends out there...remember this.  These children that come to you on the first day of school are more than just a paycheck and your source of livelihood.  They are, indeed, without a doubt, another woman's entire life.

They are the miracle that caused a mommy to shed tears after feeling that first kick.  They are the babies who have kept a mommy up at night while teething or with fever.  They are aunt Becky's little princess.  They are their mommy's nose and their daddy's eyes.   They are the growth marks and dates made in Sharpie on the door frame of a closet you will never see.  They are the toddlers who have had millions of photographs taken of their first toothless smile, first bottle, first bowl of rice cereal,  first birthday, first steps, first fishing trip, first ride on a roller coaster, and first day of school...whether it be kindergarten, Byron Nelson High school, or college at OSU.  Please treat them as such.