Thursday, September 4, 2014

First Day of School

Labor Day weekend still brings the back-to-school jitters even though it's been two and half years since I last had one.  I still feel the excitement, nerves, apprehensions and joy that knots up my stomach only I feel it vicariously through my family members who are headed off to different first days in different schools.  Amy is in a new classroom in a school that is trying to "reconstitute" its effectiveness with a population that's 80% free lunch.  Half the staff and the principal are new.  I can only imagine.  She's been fidgeting and fiddling with her classroom and her lessons all summer long and reported a good first day; in fact, she said, it was better than any good day she had last year.

Pat and I had the pleasure of walking Alicia right in to her 3rd grade room, seeing where she sits and receiving a warm greeting from her teacher.  We also enjoyed driving Mary to her first day in 7th grade keeping our fingers crossed that she wouldn't stumble over the locker combination, the room locations, and the social whirl that is so demanding of middle-schoolers. Both girls had excellent first days.

I spent the rest of the morning getting a wellness check.  My blood pressure and pulse were far more regulated than they probably were when I was doing my first days of all those years in school.  My doctor and I chatted and laughed in between talking about medical things.  He told me the story of his fishing trip to the Metolius River last September.  Out on an early morning jog, he spotted a woman leaning up against the side of the bridge there with another woman at her side.  He introduced himself as an MD and offered his help.  The injured woman's companion was an RN so between  the two of them they began to minister to what might have been a severe sprained ankle or possibly a break.  Then along came three fishermen one of which approached and introduced himself as an orthopedist.  So there at 8:00 in the morning an injured woman is helped by three different medical professionals.  How lucky was she?  I loved hearing that story on the first day of school.  Thank you, Dr. M.