First Day of School 2019-2020

   Most Oklahoma Public Schools began the 2019-2020 school year the week of August 13. Blanchard Public Schools began the first day for students on Thursday, August 16, and I still get excited anticipating that beginning. Whether it's seeing parents deliver their children to school, kids disembarking from buses, or seeing the jr. hi kids practicing football or participating in other activities that began before 8 AM - I still look forward to the first day.
   I still look forward to the first day of school, even though this is my 52nd first day - 12 first days as a student in Lindsay and 40 first days as a teacher, coach, or administrator. My most memorable first day of school was in 1965 as a second grader in Lindsay. The day began with my mother, Mary, putting my younger sister Dana and me on the bus at around 7:30 AM. Our driver's name was Mr. Simkoff. School started at 9 AM, but the route took about an hour and a half to run because we lived 7 miles from town and it always took the long way. Mom told us she would meet us at the front doors of the school to escort us to our classroom upon arrival. We had no idea where our classrooms were as we had not visited earlier. It would be a new experience for Dana, since she had never even seen the building.
   After a more than one hour bone jarring ride east along Rush Creek and north to school - we arrived. How exciting! Even more exciting was the fact that mom was nowhere in sight as we unloaded. We looked left and right, but mom WAS NOT THERE. I panicked, but Dana remained quite calm as I took her hand and said "I know where to go". (It was my same hand that Dana took a baseball bat to a couple years earlier for taking her toy.) We walked directly south down the elementary hallway to the principal's office (about half a mile), as I thought that someone there may be able to direct us. Somewhere along the way, mom caught up to us and took us to our respective classes. My teacher's name was Mrs. Walker and she made me feel right at home. While I'm still not sure why mom was late, my first day of my second grade year started off with a bang.
   I've had many more memorable first days since that traumatic experience in second grade, but that one seems to be burned in my memory. The positive part is that it was good for me..