Today is the last day of school for my grandchildren for the 2015-2016 year. They were pretty excited about bringing all their work home and taking the summer off. Who isn’t?
It struck me that the last day of school – and more significantly the first day of school in September – occupied a central position in my life for about 50 years. Here’s my timeline:
1946-1952 – blissful ignorance
1952-1965 – wend my way through the educational system
1965 – 1969 – attend university
1969-1972 – blissful indifference. I’m working with no ties to the school system.
1972 – marry prospective teacher
1972-1982 – teacher goes to school
1982 – 1996 – teacher and daughter go to school
1996 – 2002 – teacher goes to school and daughter attends university
2002 – 2005 – teacher still goes to school after daughter gets on with her life
2005 – present day – blissful relaxation. How sweet it is.
I don’t want to count how many anxious days before school starts, how many moves and counter-moves, how much school stuff purchased, how many vacations taken at prime time for cost and and airport congestion. It’s over now – except if we want to take a holiday with daughter, son-in-law and grandkids. Then it’s deja vu all over again. Or will be when Teddy and Veronica get a bit older. No missing school in their future.
It’s funny how much I used to look forward to the summer. Even if I spent the time working, the rest of the family were enjoying low stress days kicking back by the pool. Now it seems kids are all over the place and former teacher and I look forward to Back to Pencils, Back to Books…you know the rest.