Clean Slate
The 2021 school year has arrived. Backpacks are packed.
First day of school outfits are chosen. Teacher
assignments are received.
The last thing on my checklist is to have the kids fill out their chalkboard for the first day of school. Obligingly, my son and daughter will stand in front of our home – backpacks on and hair fixed – and hold their respective chalkboards. Those boards are currently blank slates but soon they will be filled with each child’s age, teacher, and aspirations for what they want to be when they grow up. I’ve been anxiously awaiting their teacher assignments and over the past week, I’ve been asking them to think about what they want to be when they grow up. Last year they both said they wanted to be soccer players. To be exact, my daughter said she wanted to be the greatest soccer player EVER (she’s got some serious goals!).
As I stare at the blank slates in preparation for the 2021 school year, I’m thrown back to last year. A time when we took their photos in the back yard, and instead of driving up to school to drop them off, we simply came back inside our home. Their hair wasn’t freshly cut since we were in the midst of a COVID quarantine, and they didn’t even wear shoes in their photos. But they wore big smiles on their faces as the school year began. After taking their photos, my son and daughter each went to their room and sat at their new desk and workspace. My husband and I logged them into their Zoom classrooms in between our own virtual work meetings. The virtual school roller coaster continued several more months until both kids returned to in-person classes.
A year later I’m grateful for the opportunity to once again meet my kids’ teachers in person, to interact with classmates and their families at safely-planned events, and watch my children continue to grow and learn in an environment they love. Once again, we will kick off this year with our chalkboard slates. They may be slightly smudged from the chalk of last year, but we will fill them with bright colorful words about the year ahead and aspirations
Shelley Lester
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