THE KIDS ARE COMING!! THE KIDS ARE COMING!! Today is the first day of school and somehow, I managed to sleep last night. Usually I am tossing and turning, thinking of all the little things I should have done, could have done. Maybe I have been at it long enough now I feel more organized, or perhaps, I have just learned that most of those things don't really matter the first day anyway?

Now, here I sit, alone in my classroom, enjoying the last of the clean shiny-ness of the order. Textbooks stacked neatly, students named etched in the front, notebooks waiting for students to write their own names on the cover, a permanent black Sharpie sitting at attention atop each stack, the tables all lined up perfectly, the computer cords all place, the laptops lights glowing green, handouts stacked with schedules, and parent letters, enrollment forms, first assignments. The room is smells right.

In less than an hour, all that will change. Kids will start trickling up the stairs as the buses arrive, one by one behind the school, exploding with students, laughing, decked out in their finest new duds, holding a backpack, some with name brands splattered across their shirts, and rears, others sporting the donated goods from Project Backpack. Today, they are excited, eager, ready to make their mark, thinking, "This is the year EVERYTHING will be wonderful! I am going to make it great year!"

My job is to meet them at the door, and keep that smile on their face for 36 weeks, keep that enthusiasm as fresh in January as it is today, make sure their goal to make this a wonderful year becomes their self-fullfilling prophesy. I hope I am up to the challenge.