First day of school

Let me begin by saying I have some allergy that strikes me in August and September. I have no idea what it is, and it doesn't affect me any other time, but starting right around the second or third week in August I wake up every morning with my eyes burning and my nose running uncontrollably.

That's exactly how things started for me yesterday, which was the kids first day of school.

The allergies set the tone for what is always destined to be a disaster of a morning. The kids aren't used to getting up, my wife is all depressed because the kids are going away and summer is over, and more importantly ( to me anyway) is that my morning routine is interrupted.

All summer long I have the pleasure of being the only up in the mornings. The rare chance to enjoy the quiet solitude has really made me a morning person. Grib, who had 4 brothers and 3 sisters told me how he would occasionally find his father sitting in the dark at 5 am with a pot of coffee all alone. What was once seen as maniacal seems prudent now.

So instead of quietly getting dressed and sipping coffee while listening to sportscenter I spent the better part of the morning screaming shit like, " I'm leaving in 3 minutes with or without you !" ( I wasn't) or " I'm going to make you all wear burlap sacks to school for now on" ( I was).

Finally, 5 minutes late, we got out the door, into the car, and off to school. In my haste I forgot my allergy medicine and the entire time over to the school I have to drive with my head tilted back and my nose toward the heavens so that I didn't have mucus running all over my shirt. This was of course made worse by the face that my eyes were watering. Frankly I'm proud of the fact that we got to school without me dragging 100 yards of corn stalks behind us.

We got to school and after dealing out the hugs, kisses and goodbyes I ran into the bathroom and got a giant handful of that sandpaper-grade institutional towels every grade school has. With a giant sigh of relief I stepped out the front doors blew my nose with great vigor, and wiped the burning from my eyes. Finally....relief.

With that, a passing mother on her way into the building stopped for a second, put her hand on my shoulder and said, " awww, I know exactly how you feel, the first day always breaks my heart too..it'll be ok."