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The Last First Day of School

By: Roderick Reed
By: Roderick Reed

Summer is slipping away. The shadows are longer and the days are getting annoyingly shorter. Soon there will be nobody on the road and nobody at the beach. This means another first day of school is approaching.

One of my sons will be a senior this year. What a great year it will be. The first day of school your senior year is like being the first in line at an amusement park, a line you have been waiting in for three years. This year will be his last first day of school. There will be college, of course, but you know what I mean.

Do you remember the first day of school your senior year? Anticipation was in the air. Senior year would not be like the others. Most of the hard work has been done already. Last year, you took the ACT or SAT. The majority of your academics are complete. Things are falling into place. Your car runs and your downtown job pays the bills. The people you have known for years are all ready for this momentous day. You look around and notice some of the students look different than they did a few months ago, looking older and slightly more relaxed. Some of the girls look way, way better. The seniors are experienced high school students and it shows.

Imagine back. Under the shade of the last leaves of summer, sitting with your friends you plot how to take advantage of the kingdom of seniorhood. One goal is still unsaid, but understood. Now is the time to take advantage of every opportunity while still here. There is a part of you that desperately wants to try your hand at life outside of high school, but you aware you can’t waste what time is left. This goes beyond taking advantage of the intrinsic value within the classes themselves, but the other endeavors that have yet to be endeavored. Now is the opportunity to score the last big touchdown, goal, basket or homerun as well as a collection of last chances to meet and charm chicks. With clock ticking, you are living out the last months of blissful youth. This year is unique because seniors have the perks of being an adult with the safety net of being a kid. You don’t know that though on this last first day of school. A lot is on your mind and it is thrilling.

I am hopeful all those venturing into this special year savor all the moments that will be their first and last. Stand back and find the humor in things that were bothersome before. There are many much-better experiences after high school, but high school is a particular spot in time. Live it with your eyes wide open. Time is relentless. Cherish these last days, even ones that seem bad at the time.

I remember my first day of school that year and my 12th grade English class in particular. I woke up that day in good mood. I was running late, but I took my sweet time getting out the door. I drove my clean white car to school and expertly parked in one of the few secret parking spots. I was in no hurry though I should I have been. I knew the routine. Heading to class I had time for some high-fives and a few well-placed hugs along the way. I arrived at my English class and took a seat. All perfectly timed. The bell rang a moment later, than whoosh. The teacher came barreling down the aisle, made a double-speed step up to the faux wood painted metal classroom door. With a flick of his foot he kicked the door shut and locked it. The windows rattled in their frames. This man knew how to take charge of a class. There was an awkward silence. Mr. Mousecop started to write his name on the chalkboard. Every letter was a small explosion of chalk. Stopping, he glanced at the class and said, “Are you ready for the hardest semester of high school you have ever taken?” He scanned the classroom of now deflated seniors, all of them with roughly the same look on their faces. There goes another summer.

Roderick Reed owns REEDesign Interiors in Laguna Beach. He lives in town with his wife Kathy and two sons Mason and Jack. http://roderickreed.com/.

Editor’s Note: Students return to classrooms Tuesday, Sept. 8.

 

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