Happy New Year!

The smell of a brand new box of crayons.  The squeak of new shoes.  The rustle of new back packs and lunch boxes.  The chatter of old friends seeing each other after a summer break.  Crumpled tissues from the moms who are sending their baby to their first day of preschool/kindergarten/middle school/high school/college.  It is back to school time.

I loved school.  That is part of the reason I became a teacher.  The first day of school is so exciting.  I have been listening to my friends as they prepare their classrooms for a new group of students.  It has made me melancholy.