The Best Part of the First Day of School

Yesterday began a new school year for thousands of children in Alabama. Backpacks were stuffed to the brim with notebooks, pencils, and crayons. Lunches were packed, and kids set off on the first day of a new year. I remember those first days fondly--but it wasn't because of a Crayola Big Box, a Lisa Frank Trapper Keeper, or a new outfit. It was something else, something tiny enough to be tucked away in a lunch box yet big enough to mean the world to me.

The first day of school was always a mix of emotions to me--nervous but excited about a new classroom, new kids, a new routine. Growing up, my family didn't have a lot of money, but when it came to the first day of school, Mom and Dad made sure we had new supplies and new clothes. Looking back, I realized they must have saved all summer. Dad put in overtime so we'd have the things we needed--and the things we wanted.

Mom always packed our lunches on the first day. Amid the organized chaos that is an elementary school lunchroom, I'd find a new seat with a new group of kids. I'd sit down and open my lunchbox. The contents of lunch varied from year to year, but there was always a constant: a note.

A note from my Mom. A note that said I love you, that I am proud of you, that you're so special and smart. A note that wished me a great first day.

A note that felt like home in the midst of a scary, nerve-wrecking day. A note that felt like a hug from my Momma just when I needed it most.

I wish I'd saved those notes over the years, but I didn't. Their memory, however, always remains. I think of my mother, how she managed to pack four lunches and make sure four kids were dressed and ready for the day. I can't imagine how hectic that must have been. I can barely get myself and my daughter ready in the morning, so I don't know how she did it.

But she did--and she took the time to write each one of us a special note. She made the time to let us know she cared. As long as I live, I'll never forget those little notes.

Mom is an Exceptional Education teacher now, so she still has plenty of first days of school even though all her own children are now adults with families of their own. I know she makes every day for her students special, that she's an incredible teacher, that she's exactly the kind of woman to which I aspire to be.

I've still got four more years before my daughter's first day of kindergarten. I don't know what that day will be like for me and for my daughter, but I do know that I'll make her lunch that day, and that I'll always make sure to take the time to write her a special note.

That's what mommas do for their babies.