SCHOOL DAYS, SCHOOL DAYS


Mom used to wake us up at the dawn of every new school year by singing School days, school days, good old golden rule days . . . you know how the song goes. We hated that song because it meant the beginning of 10 months of book learning. Boys should be outside doing what boys do best and not cooped up in a stuffy classroom - - - or so we thought.

And this singing the song continued whether I was in junior high, college, graduate school or employed as a public school administrator I could always depend on mom phoning around 6 in the morning to sing School Days.

Mom's been gone since 2000 and I have come to miss her calling on the first day of school. It's interesting in what we long for when it comes to parents who have long since passed away.

Grace's first day in kindergarten is tomorrow. Here she is with her teacher, Miss Lori We want nothing but the best for our Gracie. You can rest assured that Lori's the best.

I'll be singing to Grace on the telephone come six a.m. Monday.

Here's another good friend, first grade teacher Miss Joan. See that look on her face? That's Joanie. She's always like that - smile on her face, upbeat personality. Happy is as happy does. First grade teachers need to be like that.

This picture was taken last week when she was in the midst of readying her classroom for the first day of school. One of her former students, Heather, is seen in the background helping Joan. Heather's in high school and returned to school to help her old first grade teacher organize the classroom.

I'm not sure what they teach in kindergarten and first grade these days. I should know since it was my job to know those things not so long ago.

They say everything you need to know you learned in kindergarten. That's a whole bunch of stuff.

Guess I missed out on the kindergarten lesson on poking holes in a potato before microwaving it.

If nothing else, an exploded potato in the oven makes for a clean microwave. Now there's a lesson for ya.

Happy first day of school!