School

Yesterday I went to visit a local school for one of my daughters, she suppose to start school next September.

The school itself was beautiful, looked very safe, the staff was very friendly and the Head Teacher was knowledgeable and helpful.

By all accounts this is probably were my daughter will be starting her studies, but I still got a few other schools to check first, but it will be hard to top this one.

The great thing about the UK is that education is free, this looked like any private school in the US .. except for the price tag .. here it’s sponsored by the local assembly .. so it’s your TAX money at work, education your kids instead of financing oil barons.

But bitterness aside .. this trip up the street made it even more evident I am getting old .. I remember very clearly my own first day of school .. I went to the blackboard and drew a house .. the first day had been just a formality, my mother (and the other kid’s mother’s) spend about an hour with us, being acquainted with the teacher and school .. and then we went home .. on the way out we found my cousin, who was staying with us, crying because her teacher who was suppose to give her a ride to school (she was studying on a different school) had left without her, I still remember the tears on her face and how upset she was .. or how happy she had been 1 hour earlier about going to school.

I can also remember my first day of second grade .. I arrived on school 1 hour early .. for some reason my folks go the timing wrong .. so while I was there, waiting for anybody to show up, i was wondering .. was school to start maybe the next day over ?, maybe I was a whole day early .. it was then the school janitor arrived and was bemused to see me there, all alone and excited to get cracking on another school year.

My early memories are so vivid, and so happy, and now my daughters are about to embark in the same journey .. yes, I do have an older 7 year old who already been in the school system for a few years, but she lives with her mother, and the mother made all the arrangements, so I never experienced/thought about it much .. but now I do .. my kids are building their own happy memories now, of school, teacher, friends .. that will last them for as lifetime .. and me .., I’ll just keep on aging and continue to loose my own memories .. but hopefully also gain some new ones ..

I just hope my children are as blessed as i was .. I had a good and happy childhood .. my dad was a bit of a tough man .. and I got the occasional whooping for causing trouble .. but we were always a loving family .. I think we are as loving as my folks were to my kids .. but it’s of course their perception of it that matters, and not hours .. I hope me and the wife are doing a good job, and 30 years from now, they can look back and reflect on the past as I do, and have a big smile on their faces … after all, it’s all good memories.