Doin' the Back to School Happy Dance

What’s that sound? Do you hear it? That tapping? Is it a woodpecker? It’s getting louder.

Oh, I know what it is… It’s the sound of mothers all over town doing the happy dance. The day beloved by parents everywhere (and bemoaned by children alike) is finally here. Let me savor these words: First…day…of…school. Ahhh.

Has anyone witnessed the happy dance first hand? It’s quite precise, you know. The mother walks her child to the bus stop for the first (and probably only) time this year. She greets the bus driver and wishes her child a great first day of school as he or she trudges up the steps and finds a seat. The door closes with a whoosh, and as the bus pulls away the mother waves to her child, a mixture of nostalgia and sadness playing around the edges of her brave smile.

At which point the bus turns the corner and the mother suddenly morphs into Rocky Balboa, pumping her fists into the air in victory and crying, “Yes, yes, YES!”

Okay, I know, there are many of you out there wishing for a few more days; lamenting the cold, rainy weather we suffered through most of June (and much of July). “If only we could just have a few more weeks of summer,” you cry. “If only we could take a few more day trips, eat a few more ice cream cones, get to the beach one last time.” My response is this: Pull it together and get over it. School is here and by this time next week you’ll be seeing things my way

I’ll admit there are advantages to summer vacation. But I’ll trade my mornings of sleeping late with mornings at the gym (with no children in tow). I’ll swap the constant fighting and bickering between my two boys (“Mom, I’m trying to play the Wii and he’s looking at me. Make him stop.”) with sitting at the table for a few hours each night, keeping my kids on track with their homework. I’ll trade late afternoons at the beach for soccer practice and Lego Robotics (less chance of sunburn and no sand to vacuum). I’ll gladly forgo my trips to the zoo, museum and arcade for the chance to buy toilet paper at Wal-Mart without a detour to the toy department.

Yes, there are things I didn’t accomplish this summer. I did not strip the wallpaper in my bathroom. I did not paint my hallway to match the living room that was painted three summers ago. And, as my kids have reminded me about a thousand times now, we did not make it to Canobie Lake Park. But we can still look forward to the weekends. Many of them, I’m sure, will be warm and sunny enough to squeeze in a few more activities.

And if that’s not enough to comfort you…there’s always Monday. Labor Day. Sleep as late as you want.