The First Day of School

Today is Back To School Day here in Prince William County, and I wasn't about to miss the first day of school for anything!

I left home at about 0450 this morning, and was in the office by 0515. I got some things done, went to the gym, had a shower and shave, put on my uniform and drove straight to my kid's school to meet her and my wife, who drops her off in the mornings.

My little angel looked darling in her navy blue uniform and bright yellow rainboots (it was raining like nobody's business first thing this morning, here in the DC area), and was proudly pulling her bookbag along behind her.

At the school, all of the kids seemed to be excited about the beginning of the school year. As we walked across the parking lot to the school's entrance, my daughter called out to her friends and was greeted by lots and lots of her pals from first grade. She and her friends were so busy chattering that she could barely spare me the 5 seconds that it took to listen to me say: "be a good girl, pay attention to your teacher, and have fun today". She responded with a kiss on the cheek and a "'bye daddy!", and was off. My wife walked her to her classroom, but, since I had already met the teacher (at last week's "Meet 'n Greet"), I jumped back into my car and headed back to work. I was feeling just a wee bit sad at the fact that she was so eager to part company, but I put it down to being selfish. She is growing into her own person, and I get enough of her time. Still, I like being the person she comes to when she needs to feel safe.

I got back to work in about 15 minutes, and was greeted in the parking lot by a colleague that had just taken his daughter to her first day at middle school. I asked Jim how it had gone and he said: "Dude, as soon as I got near the school, she was ready to jump out of the car and get inside!". Jim wasn't all that happy about his experience, either.

At least I got a kiss.