In the next week our family will have the ultimate moment in "back to school". After about two weeks of collecting forms, signing paperwork and having medical checks we had all our ducks in a row so to speak and off I went to register K for kindergarten.
This was not any normal moment in parenting. I walked into the elementary school that I went to to register my son for kindy. It was from memory, the same as it was nearly 30 years ago which was both comforting and shocking all in the same moment.
The walls in the office were a horrible shade of mint, the cot in the nurses room was the same marbled brown leatherette, the photocopier was seriously upgraded but in the same location and as far as I could tell the secretary's desk was exactly the same. The faces had changed, well most of them (my 5th grade social studies teacher is still there) and the classrooms looked a bit suped-up, at least from what I remember.
If there was one welcoming thing about the entire experience it was that I felt like this was a community. There was a PTO with parents who were genuinely excited about a new family and a couple across the table that seemed so regular I wanted to give the mom my number and say "let's hang out"...I'll have to stalk the downtown area, I'm sure we wouldn't miss each other.
This is the home I grew up in, the school I went to...everything is the same but different and I'm looking forward to making my home here and then near.
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