The First Day of Kindergarten

There are three things I remember clearly about my first day of Kindergarten in August 1985:

1. My worse fear: getting off the school bus at the wrong school
2. Wearing my favorite dress (Strawberry Shortcake of course!)
3. Being forgotten by the bus driver who never came by

Thirty-four years later, my worse fear is more than a little silly. I imagine most kids starting school fear the new teacher, or making friends, or being in a new place. After all, no bus driver is going to let a tiny five-year-old get off at the high school, junior high, or even the other elementary school in town which started at grade three and, therefore, the kids were at least eight-years-old. My worse fear should have been that the bus driver would completely forget me and not come pick me up at all. Thankfully, another bus driver kindly stopped and went out of her way to take me the Marshall County Elementary School, a school she had already stopped at on her route. Mr. Black, my bus driver for the next 3½ years, never forgot me after that.

As a whole I don’t remember much about the start of my school life. I have pieces of Kindergarten that dance in my head: the two good friends I made (Aleesha and Katie), the day I came in to brag about my first lost tooth, learning to write the letter “C” (not sure why that one sticks in my head), being a Mouseketeer in our school play, the days of the week song (which Emry now loves), Nathan Cathey scribbling with a marker on my Cabbage Patch Kid’s head, and a little black girl named Jennifer who was a huge Whitney Houston fan (a person I had never heard of at that age but to this day I can sing The Greatest Love of All, although now that I understand the actual words…well, Emry won’t be learning that in Kindergarten).

Kindergarten is a pivotal moment in the life of a child, hence the reason moms now go out of their way to stage “First Day of Kindergarten” pictures complete with stat signs and smiling kids in brand new clothes weighed down by backpacks half their size. Honestly, I’m not sure many of these are taken on the actual first day of Kindergarten. I would have been too nervous to smile on my first day, let alone look delighted next to some chalkboard stat sign declaring I’m five, can count to ten, and adore kitty cats. Besides, only the most organized of mothers could manage to pull that off in addition to packing lunch, making sure everything is in said backpack, and catching the bus without a nervous breakdown or even getting sick. And that’s with an iPhone slipped in her back pocket. My mom would have had to find the camera and ensure it included working batteries and film. Didn’t happen.

But I do have a Kindergaten picture in my favorite dress:

 Well, today was Emry’s first day of Kindergarten. It crossed my mind to write some stats up on her chalkboard wall and get a cute picture, but I had enough trouble finding time to get the list of sight words, memory verse and taped penmanship lines on the wall when both kids were (miraculously!) busy elsewhere. Emry was already dressed by the time I thought the whole thing through, anxious to sit down at her little table and do her math and my iPhone was plugged in somewhere else. Lest you’re still stuck in the 20^thCentury mindset of home education, we do not“go to school” in our pajamas, but her hair wasn’t yet brushed so I decided to skip the whole picture thing. Later, though, I thought at least a picture would be good minus the stats, new clothes or backpack half her size.  And since we practiced writing her name, that is on the wall (with Ethan’s attempt at writing his own name below).

All in all, I doubt the day was very memorable. Penmanship, reading, phonics and a math worksheet – things she will be doing every day for the next months – are hardly worth remembering. Still, today is a pivotal day. For both of us.