On Wed, 17 Sep 2003, Met History wrote:

> MOTHER and FATHER drove BOY up to Dartmouth today.   Felt peaceful, not torn,
> arriving in the happy accidents of freshmen and their parents on the 1st day:
>  what next?  where's this?  where's that?  [parents:] when should I leave?
> is this really IT?

I missed this scene from BOY's perspective, since I attended the hometown
university, with which I was already intimately familiar; when I moved out
of my father's house a couple of years later, no one took any notice.

Rather, just four weeks ago, we achieved the kindergarten version of this
milestone.

SGSK, our one and only child, fresh from her fifth birthday, is already
eye-rolling at her parents in public.  "LOOK," she hissed at me in a crowd
recently, as I made faces to entertain a nearby infant, "Do you see anyone
ELSE doing that?"  I suppose every BP'er of sufficient age is accustomed
to getting urgent deportment guidance from a young person with less than
one-ninth one's real world experience, but it was new to me.

So here she is, SGSK, now a "big kindergarten girl", mandatory backpack in
place, eyes darting toward the beckoning classroom door as we try to take
a few pictures to commemorate the occasion.

Despite the very self-assured prediction of the kindergarten teacher,
delivered in previous parent meetings, there are no tears on either side.
Indeed, I didn't see any tears shed anywhere.

It's very different from my own first day of kindergarten, which occurred
in the waning months of the Eisenhower Administration, in the days when
kids starting school were being ripped for the first time away from full
days with family.  Probably the only fundamental difference between SGSK's
all-day preschool and her new all-day kindergarten is that the latter is
funded with tax dollars.

> Bravery report:  three freshman reported existing nicknames:  Clucky,
> T-Bomb, and Giggles.

Having been K-Bomb myself, I would have advised T-Bomb to refrain.  No one
ever used that nickname in a kindly or respectful way.  But then, maybe
the Ivy League is different.

                                   Larry

---
Lawrence Kestenbaum, [log in to unmask]
The Political Graveyard, http://politicalgraveyard.com
Polygon, the Dancing Bear, http://potifos.com/polygon
Mailing address: P.O. Box 2563, Ann Arbor MI 48106

--
To terminate puerile preservation prattling among pals and the
uncoffee-ed, or to change your settings, go to:
<http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/bullamanka-pinheads.html>