Well, here we are. After sixteen years of first days of school, pancake breakfasts and pictures by the front door, we have officially celebrated our last first day.
I’m trying very hard not to make every single senior year moment overly sentimental, because the truth is that this is such an exciting time. Whit is ready for this year, he is happy and we have so much to look forward to. But I also think it’s okay to acknowledge that some of these milestones hit a mama right in the heart.
Our traditional front door picture actually happened after school this year. The seniors had their Senior Walk that morning, and with all the excitement surrounding that, there simply wasn’t time for our usual photo before he left. I certainly wasn’t going to let the day pass without one, though, so I made him humor me when he got home.
And I’m so glad I did.
I pulled out his first day pictures while writing this post and couldn’t get over the one from first grade. Whit was six years old and Elsa was just four months old, a fluffy little puppy sitting beside him at the very same front door. Now here they are on the first day of twelfth grade, quite literally having grown up together.
Elsa made the senior picture but Anna did not. I would have loved to have both puppies in it, but Anna is incredibly strong and a known dasher. Her middle name is actually Dasher, so I suppose we can’t say we weren’t warned. Wrangling her, a senior, a sign and a camera felt like tempting fate.
As for school itself, Whit has a pretty tough schedule this year, but he seems content with it. Math is first period, which he likes because he can get it out of the way, and next week he’ll begin his professional internship and the research project that goes along with it. He’s really excited about that opportunity, and I’m excited to see where the experience takes him.
Otherwise, he’s settling right back into the comfortable rhythm of school and senior life. There will be afternoons at the gym with friends, Wednesday pickleball, Crispy Cokes as we can steal the time, and all the regular things that make up these days.
Thirteen years ago, I couldn’t have imagined how quickly we’d get from that first kindergarten picture to this one. It sounds terribly cliché to say it goes by in the blink of an eye, but there really isn’t a better way to describe it.
So I’m choosing to be grateful rather than sad. Grateful for every pancake breakfast, every first day outfit, every picture by this door and every year that brought us to this one. And most of all, grateful that I still got the very last picture.
For the moment, I also happen to have both of my boys home, and I’m soaking that up for as long as it lasts. There are shoes everywhere, food disappears at an alarming rate and the laundry never ends, but my goodness, I love having them both under this roof.
Here’s to the Class of 2027 and one wonderful last first day!
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