This week, I took my “baby” to her first day of high school and could not help but reminisce about the Nathanson Family First Day of School ritual.

First, we enjoy a special homemade First Day of School breakfast. We all do our chores: make beds, straighten up and organize what we can for dinner. The children grab their brand new backpacks, filled with sharpened pencils, brand-new folders and binders. You can just see in their faces, the excitement that they will get to share their most favorite aspects of their summer reading assignments.

Adorned in their most favorite brand new outfits and haircuts, they stand three in a row, smile and click — we have our memory.

Well … WAKE-UP! Wouldn’t that be a really boring memory!

So, here comes reality … First of all, “nowadays” the First Day of School is still summer in my book … at least that’s what I call mid-August. Its hot, the buildings are not air-conditioned and who takes anything seriously before Labor Day. The kids are still on summer hours, so we pry them out of bed, dust them off, throw them a stale Power Bar, run around looking for the tattered backpack that has last year’s crumpled, moldy (not going to lie) supplies and head out the door nagging about how they actually should try their summer reading instead of cramming on the Spark notes last night. We all run out, leaving the house in its usual shambles.

We beg and bribe the kids to be serious for the First Day of School photo, “stop sticking out your tongue”, “don’t hit your sister”, “come on, BE serious”. And yes, finally … they stand three in a row, smile and click — we have our memory.

Ilene