Today was the first day of school for my kids, and Nathan finally got to wear his new shoes. They’ve been in his closet for more than a week now — still in the box — and he’s tried a hundred ways to talk me into letting him wear them early, but I stand firm: new shoes only on the first day of school. (It’s similar to my rule of: no wearing Halloween costumes until Halloween.)
The anticipation this builds is unbeatable. Nathan was up at 6 a.m. — even though school didn’t start until 9:25. But he was up, with his new shoes on by about 6:07. He couldn’t wait. He also had on his new socks, new jeans and new shirt, and had his new backpack all packed up with his new school supplies.
Everything’s so fresh and new — a fresh start and a new school year.
And nothing beats this smile:
All because of those shoes.
Do you remember starting the school year with fresh new things? What did you most look forward to? A new outfit? A new haircut? Fresh-sharpened pencils and clean, blank paper? What gave you that biggest feeling of “starting fresh”?