After a wonderful late Sunday afternoon at our little Mount Sequoyah pool on the last day of summer, which we had to ourselves for two straight hours for some wonderful and mysterious reason, we headed back to our sweet house for dinner.  Sitting around the table we shared highlights of our brief seven week summer as we prepared for tomorrow’s first day of school excitement.  There were our trips to the pool, the fire pit, shaved ice, Braum’s ice cream, our Devils Den hike, our weekend with Rick and Raina, our trip to Kansas, the drive-thru Safari Zoo, Crystal Bridges, First Friday Bentonville, First Thursday Fayetteville, “As You Like It,” mini golf, candy shopping at The Mill, the Farmer’s Market, a Gulley Park concert, the Jones Center, the library, playing in the rain, the first time to go down water slides, “Annie,” Nana and Papa’s visit, after dinner walks, after dinner drives, swinging in the back yard, “So You Think You Can Dance,” meeting so many wonderful new people, reading so many wonderful books, popsicles, movies, cookouts, creeks, and staying up till 9PM.

Monday morning found us waking up to our alarm clocks at 6:00.  Huck instantly made his bed, which is completely out of character, and also got himself dressed without being asked, which was almost creepy.  About ten minutes before we needed to leave, I found him standing at our front door wearing his backpack and looking outside.  Even though he doesn’t tell us how he’s feeling about this huge life transition per se, I saw excitement in those brown eyes of his.  And when I got my hard working camera out he said, “Now we actually have a house to stand in front of for the first day of school picture!”  Which sounded exactly like something I would say.

Troy made us walk a mile up hills and down hills and in and out of beautiful neighborhoods to Washington Elementary, determined as he is to maintain the walking New Yorker in him, and once we arrived Huck gave us kisses and then bravely entered the building alone.  Troy and I awkwardly smiled at each other and decided to hike over to our favorite little coffee place.  We filled our day at home without being interrupted by an eight year old, but I suffered from nervous butterflies no matter what I did.

Mid-afternoon Troy headed back down the mountain to get more steps, and an hour later he and the exhausted, overheated brand new third grader came running up to the door.  Other than a mild headache, he had a good first day and even gave me some details until he decided it was time to get back to those summertime activities … swinging and swimming and reading, and before I knew it I was off to rehearsal and wouldn’t see him again until we did it all over again in the morning.

Survive the First Day of School, check.