Another School Year (2025)

My Facebook and Insta feed is inundated with first day of school photos. Wide toothy smiles, proud mama and papa bears, the excitement and promise radiating even through the screen. S comes back from his walk and reports how our bus stop was full of enthusiastic kids and relieved parents, some kids going to kindergarten and public school, for the very first time. I immediately wish I had been there. Not that I feel nostalgic for those days. With my children being in a different city and school every year or every second year, these occasions were never happy but instead filled with dread and anxiety. I mostly recall feeling nauseous for the whole day until the kids came back and were able to report being reasonably comfortable in their new environment.

Still...time heals these scars :) I shoot off multiple good-luck texts to friends and neighbors who I know have kids entering elementary, middle and high schools. I know they will be anxious and emotional, whatever the milestone.

In my own home, things are quiet. Y has applied and got a parking spot in her school premises, and for weeks we have been arguing on the advisability of driving to school every day. We the parents insist she can take the bus; she is appalled at having to ride with "the babies"! The babies are all in high school, by the way! For now, she has lent her parking spot to a friend who will be driving to school everyday; in return, this friend will give Y a ride every morning. 

Today, she informs me she doesn't need breakfast. She and her friend will stop at Starbucks on the way and grab something. She requests her favorite paneer sandwich for lunch though. Before I know it, she is out of the house and I haven't clicked a photo like I usually do. 

She is back at 5, and I can already see a halo of stress around her. She reminds me that he is now an "upperclassman". She has begun to predict which of her teachers will be harsh graders. She wants to start a club at her school. Homework has already been assigned on the first day. Junior year, that bogeyman of high school, is on its way :)