The End of Summer - Monday

Today was the first day of school for Paige. She will go three days a week now and is in the "Sunshine" class at her preschool. Her daddy takes her to school and I pick her up so I needed to be there to introduce myself to her teachers. I also help out when I can at parties and special events since her mommy and daddy work full time. The plan was to all meet at 10:00.

I arrived first with baby Hayden coming down from the mountain; Debbie was next coming from her office in N. Chattanooga, carrying with her Paige's school supplies. Daniel and Paige arrived last coming from their home in N. Georgia. Debbie offered to carry Hayden in his car seat into the classroom. An offer I gladly accepted. (You'd know why if you ever had to lift one with a baby.)

Paige practically ran into her new classroom and barely said hello to her new teachers before exploring the different learning centers and settling in the homemaker section, doing what she likes best pretending to cook, clean, and play house along with two new friends. Debbie and Daniel sat with all the other parents at the child-size tables filling out forms.

I stood next to Hayden just inside the door. Leaning against the door frame, watching Paige and her enthusiasm I was brought back to some of my first days of school and in particular the year I was in third grade. Mamma insisted we take a picture dressed in our school clothes on the first day of school. I remember that even though my little sister was too young for school, she was in all the pictures and so it is fun now to look back at the three of us at the end of each summer.

My summers were a mix bag between Girl Scout camp, swimming lessons at the City Park pool, my treehouse in the backyard, forts in the woods by the railroad tracks, and sleepovers at my grandparent's house. But probably the most influential thing I did over the years each summer was to spend a week to six weeks in Jackson, Mississippi with my Great Aunt Lorraine and Uncle Phares. It would take a series of blogs to share those days, but the summer before third grade was life-changing. I cut my hair. Or I should say, Aunt Lorraine cut it - much to Mamma's dismay.

I had long thick brown hair that was naturally wavy and so I wore it in a ponytail and when it got hot I had a halo of curls that surrounded my face. Mamma loved my halo of curls, but Aunt Lorraine thought my hair was too heavy for my little face so she took me to her beauty parlor and asked her hairdresser to cut it all off, in a pixie style. She then took me to a dress shop and bought me some new dresses for school.

When Mamma and Daddy came to get me they were horrified at my new haircut. I remember feeling such shame and embarrassment which was just the opposite of the way I felt the day I had it cut - free and light and happy. A few weeks later I dressed for school in one of my new dresses, a cream-colored sleeveless cotton shirt waste with bright colored umbrellas printed all over it. Standing in the front yard with my brother and sister Mamma took our "first day of school" picture and smiled. She said I looked beautiful and I realized she was not mad anymore about my hair cut and that she loved me no matter how I looked.

Standing there in Paige's classroom on her first day of school, dressed in her new jeans, pink shirt, new school shoes, and surrounded by new friends I imagined what she would remember about that day. That her Mommy and Daddy and Mimi loved her and saw how beautiful she was? I hope so.