First day jitters worse than normal

It seemed like my teenage daughter was a little extra apprehensive and jittery about going back to school. It initially caught me off guard because she’s not normally that way. And then it hit me.
COVID-19.
Need I say any more?
When I pushed her for explanation, she quickly pointed out, “I haven’t been to school in six months.”
Certainly, going back to school is like none other this fall for students everywhere as they venture into schools that had been shut down suddenly in March from the coronavirus. Undoubtedly, lots of cleaning and disinfecting has taken place since that time.
As parents of any teenager can attest, I really wasn’t needed for much on the first day or any day for that matter. Mostly for moral support, I think.
I watched my daughter whip up her own lunch. “Lunch?” I asked. “Well, yes on the first day I have to bring lunch because I need to get a spot to sit right away,” she retorted back. I didn’t realize lunch seats were in such short supply.
“Just go with the flow,” I reminded myself as I smiled at my daughter.
She, of course, was also equipped with her face mask. A couple of them, no less. After all my years of being in school and getting two other children off to school, face masks were never part of the back-to-school supply list. Oh, how times have changed.
Through my daughter, I was quickly reminded how everyone is a little on edge and jittery about the direction life is taking us these days. I am convinced we can overcome this.
This school year, like almost every other function and activity in our lives, is definitely one like none other. It’s all new territory for everyone. There is no playbook to quickly page through and figure out how to stumble through life during a pandemic.
It has been a trying time for most everybody. I especially admire educators who are faced with both distance learning and in-person instruction. It can’t be easy and I appreciate what they are doing to keep our youth educated.
I am also impressed with Bill Regan and his crew at all the area bus companies—Owatonna, Medford, Blooming Prairie and Hayfield—with how they are keeping kids safe on buses this year. Bill has a top-notch operation that’s difficult to beat. And, yes at 87 years old, Bill is still keeping a pulse on what’s going on with his buses.
My hope for this school year is that everyone stays healthy and that we can continue with school as close to normal as possible given the circumstances we’re in. It’s definitely going to be a challenging year, but as we have found out over the past six months, it’s nothing we can’t overcome.
We all need to go in hot pursuit of doing our best to overcome the worst adversity society has seen in more than a century.