August 20, 2001
DOWN HOME:
This isn't the beginning of just any school year
___We're back in school now. Well, not "we," but you know what I mean. The kids have gone back to school, so it sorta feels like "we" are back-- back to the early-morning routine, back to helping with homework, back to Friday night football games, back to anticipating Christmas and spring break and the end of school next summer. We're back.
___This year is different at our house.
___Lindsay has started her senior year of high school. This is the last time she'll start aschool year like this. A year from now, she'll be preparing to pack up and head off to college, and that will be totally different.
MARV KNOX
Editor
___You may imagine I'm the sappy sentimental one in the family. You'd be right, too. But Lindsay joined me in a nostalgic journey of the mind the other night.
___"I remember the first day of kindergarten," she said. "You and Mama took me to school."
___She clearly recalls getting out of the car in the parking lot. I wonder why that image sticks in her brain. No wonder about my memory of that day: I remember standing in the hallway outside her room and watching my baby, who seemed so very young, walk into class, in the care of someone who wasn't her mother or me.
___Lindsay less-vividly remembers the first day of first grade. But I can close my eyes and recollect almost every minute of our drive across town to an inner-city school in Louisville, Ky. She seemed so small there in the backseat, and yet she was ready--ready to take on the challenges of learning and making friends and growing.
___Now Lindsay and millions of her companions in the Class of 2002 are prepared to make another year's worth of memories. These will be special-- the friends and experiences and unique occasions of senior year.
___For many seniors, this year won't pass quickly enough. Month by month, they'll lean into the challenges and opportunities and adventures that await them next year, beyond high school. For their parents, the days will accelerate, just the way sand seems to speed up as it passes through an hourglass.
___ In my most-sentimental moments, I already miss Lindsay, imagining her absence a year from now. But then reality strikes, and I recognize the fun and potential and excitement of this year, which also happens to be Molly's first in high school. I'm going to try to memorize this year, because I know I'll want to play it back in my mind for decades to come.
___Times like these--the beginning of a school year, particularly the beginning of senior year--remind us children are special gifts from God. Our time with them is to be treasured.
___After all, these are the "good old days" we'll talk about forever.
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