Back To School
The first day of school in Park City is always bittersweet. The bitter is saying goodbye to the best of summer: long, leisurely nights of not coming inside to even start dinner until 8 o'clock. Watching movies, playing Guitar Hero or sitting with my husband in our Adirondack chairs as the sun sinks below our silhouette of mountains and we watch our boys and their friends playing Ghost in the Graveyard or wall ball until late. No more spontaneous afternoon fieldtrips for ice cream cones just because it's summer. No more intoxicating freedom of no homework. The bitter is after eight weeks of sleeping in, having to wake up at 6 a.m. to a dream shattering alarm clock (even though I have mine set on 'monastery chimes' - something supposedly soothing - I still wanted to shoot it when it went off this morning). The bitter is the realization, that when you take the annual photograph of the kids on the front porch the first morning of school, backpacks and smirks securely fastened, that the legs are longer, the shoes are bigger, the faces more mature, the heads higher against the doorframe than they were last year. They are growing up. This, of course, is also the sweet.
I am everyday grateful that my children are growing up. Healthy and happy. I am grateful for our wonderful schools and teachers here in Park City. Jesse is a 7th grader at Ecker Hill this year. Last year he made all of those big transitions: to riding the bus, to having a locker combination, to switching classes and teachers and having school dances and B lunch and smelly gym shoes. He knows his way around. The school is beautiful. Jesse's teachers from last year hugged him hello this morning and Mrs. Ivers in the office always greets him with a smile and assistance any time he needs it. Caleb is off to his first year at Park City High School as a sophomore. His course load looks daunting to me (the idea of honors chemistry alone is enough to make me break out in a cold sweat), but he is excited about it, confident, and looking forward to seeing his soccer and lacrosse teammates, his orchestra buddies, his math geek friends, childhood friends and Facebook friends in the sunny wide open hallways of opportunity that our high school provides.
And things aren't just sweet for the kids. You should have SEEN the giddy, beaming smiles on so many Park City mothers' and fathers' faces this morning. Parents ushered their children into school, settled them in, and then stood out in the parking lot with their coffee, talking with friends, basking in the heady excitement of knowing they'd have seven hours of uninterrupted time on the horizon … time to focus on that project at work, hop on a mountain bike or get back into a gym routine, time to run an errand blissfully alone, or have an uninterrupted thought.
I'll never forget the day that my youngest son went to first grade and a group of mothers stood around the doorway of the elementary school classroom reveling in the fact that for the first time in six, or nine, or eleven years, depending on the age of older siblings, that we'd finally have full days to ourselves. We were pondering the possibilities like kids in a toy store when one of the mothers exuded, "Man, Scott and I could even go home and BLANK on the kitchen table if we wanted to!" Jaws dropped. Coffees dropped. Heart rates dropped. Then all of the moms burst out laughing so hard the teachers had to shush us away and we spilled out the front door of the school, giggling girls once again.
So here's to another great school year in Park City. I can't wait to hug my boys when they get home this afternoon and hear all about their first day back. But in the meantime, I take a moment for myself, brew a second cup of coffee on this cloudy day, winds of autumn blowing in, and enjoy the sweet peace.
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Kristen Gould Case is editor of Park City Magazine and a freelance writer who publishes nationally. Weaned on the blue ice slopes of New England, she moved to Park City 25 years ago and hasn't looked back.
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Reader Comments:
Oh, my Ms. Kristen,
Together, we've certainly sent our kids off and met school buses for lots of years now. Oh, those many cups of bus stop coffee (contained our bloody mary consumption to the last day of school!) we've had together watching our kidos grow up. Today, Ashley co-operated for her first day of school photo in front of our sunflowers .... as I realized it was the 13th time we had gone through that exercise and the last one before she finishes high school! What do you suppose the next chapter will bring when we don't have anyone on the school bus?? New chapters for us all.
Kathy
Ahhh yes, and I was recalling this morning, with the mother of my 23 year old's school friend, how a group of us Mom's would gather at City Park for a brunch on the first day of school--of course I am probably the only one out of all those gals who still has a child in school! Great photo at the bus stop. I did get one of Grant after school looking confident and relieved that the first day of school was behind him--time to read and sign all the papers!
So, this is the first year in, lets see, 10 years that all my kids will be attending the first day of school. We still have a week to go but all the words you have written brought me right to that day. We will be taking pictures for many years to come and I will be enjoynig the fact that my three kids are all in school and we have hit a new point in our lives.
The sounds of children around the world going to school. No matter what country you live in, children are in their new shoes with new backpacks new pencils and mothers from around the world are smiling the same grin.
The tradition in our neighborhood is fine tuned as this is the fifth year we gone through our ritual together. Sadly, I imagine this will be our last as my son is entering 5th grade and I cannot imagine him allowing me to continue this tradition.
The parents and children meet at the bus stop, coffee in one hand and a dog leash in another. Everyone gets to participate. We arrive half hour early despite the grumbling the night before about getting up early. It is different on the first day of school. We watch the pros get on the bus, help the new school children find their seat with great hesitation. We cry when they load onto the "bumblebee", as on little girl has fondly named bus number 9. We wave goodbye, jump in our cars and follow the bus to school where we meet with the mass of other parents excited for this occasion. What fun it is to connect with friends again and chat about summer. The school bell rings and we follow our children to their classroom making this moment last as long as possible. Then we look at each other and high five when that door closes! Our children are in good hands and we celebrate another year of adventures. Thank you Park City Teachers!