No pants today little missy

Sentimental Rant...

I went shopping for "first day of school" clothes with my kids today. Did we find anything? No we did not, but this blog is not about them, so that is the last you'll hear of them - I just needed a good starting sentence. This little outing, not unlike the one Mary Poppins took with Jane and Michael Banks when... oh no - I mean the one those little rat kids took with their dad where they caused a run on the bank and the police came and everything around them was thrown into chaos - yes that's the one - it got me thinking about the first day of school and how it seems so much more stressful dressing someone for their first day of school than it was actually going to the first day of school.

I was not allowed to wear pants to the first day of school. I think my parents hoped that my good grooming would divert the teacher's attention into overlooking the fact that I was a slightly bossy know-it-all who did not like to raise her hand and loved a good "death drop" from the monkey bars, dress or no.

My first day of kindergarten I wore a navy blue dress, knee socks (I'm picturing them in red)and Buster Brown shoes. I'm not sure if I liked the dress or not - quite frankly I should've been more concerned with the space between my two front teeth (seriously, you could've driven a semi through that thing) - but it never bothered me. I guess I figured that I was sufficiently armed with my Big Chief writing tablet (which I'm sure they no longer make, for obvious reasons, but I'd still like to have one), and various other sundry supplies and I was ready to learn... whatever it was I was going to learn.

The first day of going to school after we moved to California I wore jeans - I think my parents felt sorry for me and so let me out of the dress thing. They were acid washed - don't pretend like you didn't have any- and had , like, graffiti writing up one leg. Hot. Looking back I think I should've gone with a pair that had a zipper and bow on the back of the ankle - but those were hard to peg so...Luckily my mom had just permed my (short) hair and I still had the aforementioned space in between my teeth. Again, hot. I didn't even know enough to be scared. My school in Montana had 250 kids k-8, my school in California : 1800 kids 7-8th. By the end of the day, I sat down in the quad and cried right on my acid washed jeans. The next day I begged my parents to let me stay home, but they didn't, and it got better. And better. And better. And then it was really good...and I was ready to learn...whatever I was going to learn.

The first day of my Junior year (oddly, I don't remember what I wore when I was a Senior)- I wore a light blue kiltish thing with a red turtle neck. Sadly, I finished the look with cream tights and brown shoes of questionable styling. (Oh, 1992 - where have you gone?) There is a picture of me standing in front of my mom's car eating an apple - she was dropping me off at my boyfriend's house so that I could ride to school with him (and my sister, and his brother, and anyone else we could fit in the car probably) and even though I didn't have a Big Chief tablet, I still look like I am ready for...whatever I was going to learn, and I still didn't know enough to even worry.

So it comes down to this, after 13 first days of school and even though I said I wouldn't mention them again - I wish this for my little leaders of the Jane and Michael Banks fan club - I hope my kids never know enough to be scared and are always ready for... whatever they are going to learn. I'm sure I would be if only I could still fit into those tight ankle zipper jeans.