Schools open this week. In short order, we will all be back in our familiar fall routines. Some of us focus on getting the kids out the door in the morning, and others are mainly concerned about avoiding school buses during the morning commute.
It’s funny how parenthood entails reliving the firsts of childhood all over again, by proxy. You get the first words, the first baby steps, the first skinned knee.
Once you get to school age, you get to taste the first day of school again, the first bus ride, the first parent-teacher meeting; the first of many, many firsts.
Funny too, while your child is in school, you are part of that school; part of its fabric, its greater community. When your child moves on, you move on, to another school, another community; your world parallels your child’s.
Once your child leaves primary school, so do you. You don’t go back again, you move into a new community, while other parents come in behind you. The school becomes their community and we are all connected by this shared experience.
Every once in a while, though, a project comes up that takes a longer shelf life, like the new playground over at the Great Salt Bay School.
We would be remiss if we did not tip our hat to Kristie Houghton and the many volunteers and donors who contributed what they could to make the dream of a new playground a reality.
Knowing money was precious, the volunteers put in a lot of hours, a lot of sweat and elbow grease to make this dream a reality. They should be proud of themselves.
It’s true, many likely joined the effort because they are part of the school community today and the playground is a vital interest, but it is also true this new playground is a gift that will keep on giving to the community for years to come, no doubt until many of the children using it today, are parents themselves tomorrow.
