On This Back to School Eve

Summer is my favorite season, but August can be a bit much.

This August, we are getting ready for our older son to start high school. I’m running around looking for ties and button-down shirts and shoes and worrying that I’m picking the wrong everything. I’m showing salespeople photos of “good” and “bad” school shoes as we try to pick the right ones.

I am scrutinizing the school’s photos of “acceptable” and “unacceptable plaid” and joking that Unacceptable Plaid would be a great name for a band. Remind me to start a band in my free time—maybe after Labor Day.

We have a few things to do between now and then. There are school supplies to buy, two different school calendars to figure out, and what seem to be a thousand questions to answer before we can send our sons off to start their year. On top of that is all the fullness and busyness of our regular lives.

Some days as it’s all spinning around me, I pause and realize that the worries have nothing to do with finding a navy blazer or getting someone to orientation on time. It has everything to do with hoping your children have the knowledge and tools they need to navigate a new school year.

There are so many things I want to tell them, even if I’ve said them before:

Be kind—and walk away from those who aren’t kind to you.

Make good choices and avoid people who try to lead you into bad ones.

Work hard, do your best, and don’t worry too much about grades.

Know that you are never ever alone, even on the hardest day of school.

Know how proud you make us just by being you.

I want to sit down and say all that and more, but the to-do lists are long, and the days are short. And when your children are the ages mine are, they aren’t looking for a lecture on life. They are looking for their next snack or their next video game victory or their next chance to hang out with a friend.

So, I say what I can and listen to their questions about what lies ahead and pray the rest falls into place. Somehow it will.

Earlier this week, I opened an email from our younger son’s principal and skimmed through all the blah blah blah. The last line said, “We can’t wait to see our students on Aug. 29!”

“What on earth is Aug. 29?” I thought. “Is there some sort of ice cream social that day?”

I went to pull up the school calendar. Nope. Aug. 29 is the first day of school. I thought they were starting after Labor Day. Oops.

At least everyone will start on time with backpacks and the right shoes. And no one will be in unacceptable plaid. At least not if I can help it.

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