24.8.09

Back to School

So tomorrow is finally the first day back at school for the girls. I say finally, not because the summer hasn't been wonderful - it has, the damp weather notwithstanding - but because Norwegian schools have already been re-opened a week, it's as if summer is officially over in Norway and we're lagging a bit behind.
The first day procedure - as it is called - is that parents and children turn up in the school play ground and wander around looking for class lists which indicate which class their offspring will be in for the coming year. Last year I cried. I couldn't help it. My baby was moving to the big school from her lovely Montessori pre-school with two of her mates, and neither mate was in her class. So I wept. As discretely as I could. I'm a very emotional person by the way.
What a difference a year makes. Said child had the most amazing year which boosted her confidence into the stratosphere beyond the wildest dreams of a parent raised as an Irish Catholic in the seventies. My mother used to refer to confident children as being 'boisterous' - in a bad way - so I came from the mentality where anyone confident would elicit the comment: who does she think she is?
But tomorrow I'm not anticipating any tears although the absence of both daughters' best friends - one of five years standing, the other made in her new class in the past year - will no doubt have some effect. I'll wear waterproof mascara just in case. And take along a hanky. And my sunglasses. I'm sure I'll be fine.
Of course, as of tomorrow, I have no excuse for not getting on and finishing da novel. Now that, on the other hand, is something which is guaranteed to reduce me to tears. Of joy or sadness, I cannot yet foretell.

4 comments:

Return to Norway said...

Awwww - it's such a special days isn't it! I was so nervous when my boys started school last week - it's going fine of course....... every school start is just another year closer to the day they leave home sigh.... where's that box of tissues..

IrishMammy said...

Best of luck, I can't imagine how difficult it is. I cried the whole way on the luas the first time I dropped Junior off at the creche.

xx

Group 8 said...

It's tough though the independent little ones make it easy on us emotional Moms.

Best of luck with doing the novel - get into a routine and there'll be no stopping you!

Unknown said...

Thank you for your supportive comments. We all survived the week very well with the girls slotting back into the school routine seemingly happily - there was only one tearful scene over the loss of the best friend who has moved to Singapore the antidote to which was to send an email to said friend. The novel on the other hand is in crisis - or I at least am feeling pessimistic about - but must keep at it. Who wants to have written 3/4 of a crap novel? Better to have written a full tome of crap. Right?