Back to School 2023

The annual back to school ritual has all but disappeared in our household. I shouldn’t be too surprised with 16- and 19-year-old boys in the house. Last year, we were able to recapture just a little of the excitement of years gone by as our oldest embarked on his first year at college.

Now even that excitement is gone! After nagging him all summer to get prepared for his sophomore year, he finally started collecting his things and determining what he needed…the day before we dropped him off! He hadn’t touched some of his storage bins since we picked him up in May. I must admit, this is sometimes more than my former military mind can handle. I loathe procrastination and really, really would love it if our kids did to.

But I know I have to let them grow into the men they will be. Both of them will learn not all of my rants are crazy, there is an inkling of wisdom in some. Hopefully they will land somewhere in the middle between an anxious preparer like me and a just in the nick of time person as they seem to be now. Until then they’ll just have to learn the hard way; those toiletry items aren’t just going to magically appear in the dorm!

There are two things that makes this back to school for our college student a little different. First, he plans to continue to work a couple of days a week while in school. I was very pleasantly surprised how he took to working at his summer job and even happier when he put in the paperwork to transfer to the facility located in his college town.

The second big change is that he will have his own vehicle. The main reason he sought employment this summer other than for the experience, was to purchase a vehicle to take back to campus. He achieved his goal! While on the surface the thought of him with a vehicle at college is absolutely terrifying, I am actually glad he has a car. To be honest, I know there are a lot of wonderful kids that would gladly give him a ride at his school, but I think I’ll feel just a little safer knowing he is the one behind the wheel. I just hope he doesn’t become a taxi service for his dorm mates!

For my youngest son who started 11^th grade two weeks ago, back to school came and went with zero fanfare. One day it was summer, and he was out of school, the next day he wasn’t. Other than paying school fees and attending his swim team parents meeting, you’d barely know there was a whole 2.5 months of summer break.

We didn’t even buy one pencil or piece of paper for our high schooler! When I asked why not, he said he’d take care of it. He too, has a car, a much older hand me down that I bought 9 years ago, but it gets him where he needs to go. He doesn’t need his parents to secure paltry items such as pencils or paper. He can do it himself.

Back to school was a season that came and went in our household. A decade ago, I was probably frustrated, walking around Target or Wal Mart looking for everything on the supply list. Or getting impatient over our then little boys’ indecisiveness on which color backpack they wanted. Now I realize how special those moments were. The lesson, cherish every moment even the routine and mundane such as back to school shopping. There will come a time when it will just be a fond memory.

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The views, opinions and biases expressed in this blog are the authors and do not reflect those of the U.S. Army or Department of Defense.

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