When I think of “firsts” I immediately begin thinking of all of the baby firsts.  But as I was thinking I realized that we are currently experiencing a brand new series of firsts!

CJ just entered 7th grade thus securing him a rite of passage into the land of Jr. High.  The new firsts are not like anything I could have imagined.  As the oldest child he goes through everything without advance notice of what to expect (as his Daddy and I did).  But as the parent of this oldest child I am experiencing these firsts as well.

Registering for Kindergarten was a rather non-descript event where I grabbed the forms from the school and sent them back in.  For Junior High it is an entire afternoon at the school where we go from one area to another to get organized.

• Register for school - check
• Purchase the PE (sorry, Life Fitness) uniform - check
• Purchase Year book - check
• Purchase Math folder - check
• Get locker assignment information - check
• Get signed up for football - check
• Fill lunch card - check

It was a learning experience for myself and my son … I think.  He did spend a lot of time wandering about greeting friends.  But that’s another point, he wasn’t so shy, he enjoyed hanging out with the other guys who were there.  They were exited, a nervous and guarded excitement maybe, but excited.  Maybe just to see each other, I don’t know, but it was fun to watch.

Football was a first as well.  He’d played League ball for years, but this was different.  Monday through Friday from 2:15pm to 5:00pm (actually more like 5:30pm).  This meant that once school started he would go straight from school to practice on the field and we’d pick him up later.  Definitely another first, but I like it.  Because practices began prior to the first day of school, he was able to get to know a lot of guys in his grade as well as feeling comfortable (ownership even) with his new school campus.

Then came the first day of school.  No longer would he have one teacher and classroom, but now there was 6 classes.  He rode a new bus to his first day of Junior High, had to be responsible to get himself to the lunchroom to pick up his schedule for the first time, had to put his things in his locker for the first time, had to find 6 different classrooms and meet 6 different teachers … for the first time.

Then came (in his opinion) the biggest first of all ….. the first football game!  This was huge for him, he had anticipated this day and worked his heiny off.  It paid off too becuase he played most of the game and he played hard!  They got to experience two big firsts that day - in addition to his first school football game, he also had his first win.

We still have one last first to go … the first bus ride home from Junior High.  Because he stays after school every day for football, he has not ridden the bus home once.  That will happen for the first time this Friday!  I can’t say this is a big first and it won’t be memorable I’m sure, but it is the last of a long series of firsts that we’ve been experiencing and I felt the need to point it out.

Thus proving that firsts don’t always come in the form we expect … especially as a MOM!

Remember to leave a comment linking us to your “firsts” post, especially if you signed up to participate during the invitation.  Remember, Lisa Garrigues will be visiting all of you and if you joined the discussion earlier you will be entered into the drawing to win a copy of Lisa’s book Writing Motherhood for yourself!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008 at 12:02 am and is filed under Mommy Reality, Motherhood, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. If this post blessed, encouraged or inspired you, please feel free to "Stumble It" or submit it to kirtsy - Thank you! You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.