As you’re reading this, K-12 students in both Bryan and Chatham counties (and many others, I’m sure) are returning to school today from their regularly-scheduled summer break. As someone who was in school not too long ago–time flies, readers -- I recall the first day as being one of my favorites.

 The first day of school in my experience was always very relaxed, where I said ‘hi’ to returning classmates I hadn’t seen since May and caught up with my new teachers, who already seemed to know everything about me because my mom wouldn’t stop oversharing embarrassing stories about me at the preceding Open House (is it just me, or is it always the quiet kids that have the most talkative moms?)

But all the prep that comes before the first day of school is absolute heck. As a kid, I remember having to mentally prepare myself for waking up so early after getting used to an erratic summer sleep schedule. In addition, I went to private schools growing up, so there was always a date set aside for fastidious uniform shopping, which meant my mom buying me an array of skirts and sweaters in unappealing shades of navy and shrub green. I considered myself lucky if the whole trip only lasted a few hours. Buying school supplies was another chore, but not because I don’t like stationary. Far from it, I was usually found in Target trying to (unsuccessfully) convince my dad to buy me even more flashcards, gel pens, and Post-it notes. Yes, I certainly was annoying. In my defense, I wasn’t one of those girls in my high school obsessed with decorating their locker like a college dorm room–I recall plenty of those characters living out their Pinterest dreams during the first week of my senior year.

The moral of this story (or column, really) is that change is hard, but necessary. The first day of school can be fun (because you get little to no homework on the first day) but it can also be sort of terrifying (you don’t know anybody, you get lost on campus, the school lunch is awful). But hopefully, with the help of friends, family, and other loved ones, students get through it alright. I know I did. Even an overachiever like me felt butterflies in my stomach on the first day–although I think it’s because I hardly ate breakfast in high school. (Not bueno at all–breakfast is the most important meal of the working day, readers!)

Poem of the Day: The Hand by Mary Ruefle 

The teacher asks a question.

You know the answer, you suspect you are the only one in the classroom who knows the answer, because the person in question is yourself, and on that you are the greatest living authority, but you don’t raise your hand. You raise the top of your desk and take out an apple. You look out the window. You don’t raise your hand and there is some essential beauty in your fingers, which aren’t even drumming, but lie flat and peaceful. The teacher repeats the question. Outside the window, on an overhanging branch, a robin is ruffling its feathers and spring is in the air. Andrea Gutierrez is the editor of the Bryan County News.