text: First day of school. I felt it in my bones in the early morning, I felt it as I went to bed last night, I felt it talking to Jenna as she told me about her first week back and the week ahead, I felt it in Emma’s thoughts of the outfit she will wear tomorrow and her distress at thoughts of getting up so early. My FB feed this morning is full of first day photos and I recall welcoming excited kids over the years. On the Current this morning a piece entitled A Very Different Year followed three kids and two families into the classroom on their first day of school. My grand kids don’t go until tomorrow as their last names fall in the second half of the alphabet. That alone is one indication of it being a very different year. Masks and hand sanitizer, bubbles and social distancing have all become part of the norm and certainly the lingo in classrooms all over the country. On top of all that Meg’s girls have a brand new school and unfamiliar classmates to deal with. Paige can often be heard saying” Just deal with it” and I am sure they will do just that. Tomorrow Grampie and I will try to be present as our grandchildren get on their buses and head off to another school year into grade two, grade three, grade four, grade six and grade ten. I can’t help but be thankful that I am not in the classroom this year but do feel a twinge of sadness and nostalgia for all the first days I was a part of. I wish the kids , the parents, the teachers, principals, bus drivers and custodians all the best. Be kind, have fun and do your best!