first day jitters

September 2086. Willow Nova is 5, Stephanie is 26. Jessica Pendleton is 24. 


If you would have asked Stephanie a few years ago, she never would have guessed that she'd now be one of those Instagram moms who post pictures of carefully crafted school lunches for her children, made with love and fresh organic produce from her own garden. Surprise, surprise. Perhaps there were a lot of things never would have guessed about how her life would turn out from a few years back.

Willow hovered behind her in the kitchen, bouncing and giggling with anticipation. "Can I have a cookie in my lunch?"

"Of course," Stephanie said. "But promise me that you'll eat your fruit first."

"I promise!"



Stephanie posted the photo online:

My big girlie's 'first day of school' lunch!

Then she felt self-conscious about the ordinary shaped bread. Other moms shaped their sandwiches into stars and half-moons.

Then she decided that maybe she wouldn't be one of those Instagram moms after all.


"Let's walk," Stephanie suggested. "It's such a nice day."


"Oh, wait, I can’t believe I almost forgot to take a picture!"

"It’s okay, mommy. You can take one now."

*click*

"Oh, you look so big. Please stop growing."

Willow giggled.

Stephanie posted the picture. Then she found other "first day of school" pictures that moms had posted with artfully drawn chalkboards enshrining the date and grade level. Willow just had her backpack and the backdrop of their road.

But Willow was much cuter than those other chalkboard children, so screw it.


"Hey, mom, does that boy go to my school?"

"He probably does."

"Is he gonna be my friend?"

"Maybe."


"What if nobody wants to be my friend?"

"I bet they will. I bet you'll have so many friends."


"Well, here we are."

The school building here was rather small, but Stephanie still worried that Willow would forget the way to her classroom.

"Up the stairs, then turn around. It's the door in the middle."

"I know, mommy."



"I love you so much," Stephanie said.

"I love you too, mommy."

"Have lots of fun."

"I will. Bye!"


Bye-bye, then she was gone. It happened so fast. Willow didn't even look back to wave.


The relentless tears took Stephanie by surprise. She had been anxious and excited all morning, but not sad, so why was she crying?


Another mom came from the building and stopped out front where Stephanie sniffled. "Your first?"

"Oh," Stephanie said, sniffling, feeling silly. "Yes, she's my first."

"It’s totally normal," the woman said. "A couple more years and you’ll be throwing her out the door."

"Normal?"

"Cause she’s not a baby anymore."

Yes, that was what Stephanie felt. The normal tragic sadness of a baby growing up, like a runaway train that you’d never slow down, no matter how you tried. That was a little bit sad, wasn't it? A very normal kind of sad.

"You walking back?" the woman asked.

"Yeah, we’re at the top of the hill," Stephanie said. "We moved in nine months ago."

"We moved in over the summer. I’m Ally. I have three. Bianca, Julia, and Topher."

"I’m Stephanie. I have three, too. Willow, Lily, and Benji."

"Two girls and one boy. How fun. They can play together."

"That sounds nice," Stephanie said.


They walked back to their neighboring houses together, talking about their children and the weather and life, like it was the most ordinary thing to do in the world. Of course, Stephanie left out most of her life's incredible trauma as they talked, so that she would seem normal. She didn't want to scare off a possible new playdate friend.

***

Lake District Schools, fall quarter, elementary class, grades K-4

From the left:

Milo Graham (2nd grade)

Willow Nova (Kindergarten)

Felix Graham (2nd grade)

Bianca Lind (4th grade)

Connor McCullough (4th grade)

Julia Lind (1st grade)

"Good morning, class. My name is Miss Jessica and I'm so happy to be your teacher this year. I know some of you might be nervous, but let me tell you a secret. Today is my first day as a teacher, too. I think we're going to have a great year." 

Morning meeting, to get things started. Jessica talks about their daily schedule and what they'll be learning this year.


Story time outside, because it was such a pretty day and not too cold yet in early September.


Recess, to burn off some energy.



Science unit to learn about rocks and crystals.


Art time for the little ones, writing for the 4th graders.


Psst, Bianca, I think somebody likes you. ;)


Don't worry if you can't tell these Graham twins apart. It's hard for even their parents. But we're pretty sure Milo is the paler, long-haired one, and Felix is the darker, spikey-haired one.


Willow and Julia are very serious about these drawings.


Willow finally got to eat that yummy lunch, which was much better than the cafeteria food the other kids had to pick from.


Willow offered her teacher some of her mommy's great cookies, but Jessica politely declined. She just needed a coffee or two. She didn't sleep well last night, anxious with first day jitters. These little ones have a lot of energy! But she just about manages to keep her spirits up through the end of the day.


Bugs in the science room.


A little computer time as they wind down for the day.

Stephanie was proud of herself for not waiting outside the school building for six hours. And, even though she could have, she didn't even sit by the window all day watching through binoculars. Today was a roaring success for everyone.

—

footnotes: Ally & Lind family's last update // Miss Jessica

It's been quite a long time since I wrote anything about the Lind family. I made them in TS3, but I didn't play them at all. So their last story was October of 2081, five story-years ago! (And eight RL years, lol!)

Where they are now: they've moved into the refresh of Stephanie's parents old home. I'm going to pretend that it's just a similar home, not literally the exact same one, because they are all in Copper Hill now, not Lakeside Heights. When we left off with them, Ally was entertaining the idea of a third child, but they didn't have the room for it. So they moved! You got to see Bianca (age 9) and Julia (age 6) in school, but here's a little peek at their littlest one, Topher, because he wouldn't be at school, of course.


He is 14 months old, so he and Benji will grow up next door to each other and be best buddies for life, obviously!

I have so many toddlers now. Toddlers for everybody, lol!

As for the other grades here in the Lakes District, I did educate them. They learned. They did logic, writing, and speech, but I did absolutely nothing interesting with them otherwise and barely took pictures, so no big deal. This was Willow’s big day, so I wanted to focus on the little ones.