The Katie Chronicles: First Day of High School Edition.

I am happy to report Katie survived her first day of a giant new school. We had talked about how to prepare for the egregiously early time she has to get on her bus -- shower at night, lay out your clothes, etc. -- but that was several days ago. I realized late last night that we hadn't discussed it since, so I didn't get the chance to do the Mom Quality Control Questions: Did you set your alarm, is your backpack ready, etc. Apparently, she had it covered because she went to bed early, got up in plenty of time to get everything done, made a snack, and was ready to go earlier than necessary. She wanted to get to the bus stop early, so we did. Somewhere in heaven, my mother, the school teacher who raised me to believe if you're on time you're late, is smiling. Katie stood there in the blessedly cool darkness of the early, early morning and then off she went.

After school, we did our usual tradition: I leave work early and we get ice cream and discuss the day. Katie decided she wanted to get ice cream from the store instead of going to the local shops, clearly a ploy to stretch ice cream over several days, not just the one. As an upstanding, right-thinking, pro-ice cream American, I approve. (As a side note, Ben and Jerry's has a new (?) flavor that is yummo...Cannoli). Here's the report: There are 3,300 students in her school. Thankfully the county started a new plan where freshmen were the only students in the high schools today. (At elementary schools, it's kindergartners only and at middle schools, only sixth graders). The other students who are not new to the school are attending online. Tomorrow and Friday, sophomores join the freshmen and then juniors and seniors join them in person on Monday. It’s a great way for the newbies to get used to a school without the crush of humanity. Despite this, Katie said it was already too crowded. Oh boy. She was able to get to all her classes on time, without getting lost, which was a win because her schedule takes her to almost opposite ends of the building and to different floors, all in 5 minute breaks. She liked her classes, with the possible exception of PE. Y’all…she has to actually *run* in PE class. AND she has to dress out every day. Rude! The good news is PE is her final class, so no returning to other classes all sweaty and it only lasts 9 weeks before it switches to health. She assured me she is passing this PE class so no repeats for her. (That better be the case with all her classes but that's another story). I told her PE used to be every day, all year, all the years of school. I also assured her that I walked to school in tornadoes and snow storms, often killing grizzly bears with my Trapper Keeper while destroying the ozone with my Aqua Net hairspray. She said her favorite class is theater and the other classes were all fine. She said most of her fellow freshmen are "immature" but she made two new friends -- a big deal for an introvert -- and saw a sweet friend from elementary school. She couldn't remember their names so my genes are definitely active in her. She even had a person to eat lunch with. "Some Dude" is his name, apparently. All in all, a good start. Everyone knows the saying "happy wife, happy life" -- well, "happy girl, happy mom" isn't quite as catchy but it is nonetheless true. Happy school year e'erbody!