1st Day of 5th Grade
Every year on the first day of school, I get up a little earlier than I probably need to, grab my camera, and start documenting. I’ve been doing this since Mallory started kindergarten. Back then, I don’t think I realized I was starting a tradition. I was just a photographer-mom with a camera who wanted to remember the backpack, the outfit, the breakfast, the nervous excitement and that walk to the bus. But I kept doing it. Every. Single. Year.
By the time Mallory graduated, I had an entire collection of first mornings, from kindergarten all the way through senior year. I put them together in a book for her, and it became one of those things I’m so glad I was slightly obnoxious about. 😂 So naturally, Levi never stood a chance. This morning was his first day of fifth grade. And in true ninja-mom fashion, I followed him around the house with my camera.
Fifth-grade mornings look a little different than kindergarten mornings. Especially with a boy who would probably prefer that his mother stop documenting his every move before he’s fully awake. There’s less fuss over the outfit. Less posing. Definitely less enthusiasm about Mom saying, “Wait, stand there for one second.” And this year, if I’m being truthful, there wasn’t a whole lot of excitement about school either. Levi wasn’t thrilled about going back. He didn’t want to pretend he was excited for my camera, either. And I wasn’t going to make him.
School isn’t his favorite place. Learning doesn’t always come easily to him, and I think when something requires more effort from you than it seems to require from everyone else, it’s pretty understandable that you might not exactly jump out of bed screaming, “FIFTH GRADE! LET’S GOOOO!” So this morning, I let him feel how he felt. He got himself up. He got dressed. He got ready.And I quietly…or maybe not so quietly…followed him around documenting it.
Eventually, the nerves softened. I got a laugh. Then a smile. And by the time the bus came, there was my Levi again. The kid who can make me laugh with the most random comment when I least expect it. And somewhere in the middle of photographing this completely ordinary school morning, it hit me: This is his last first day of elementary school. Next year, he’ll be heading to middle school. And after all these years of elementary school between my two kids, this is my last year of having an elementary school kid.
Oof. That one snuck up on me. There are so many parts of parenting that feel like they’re going to last forever when you’re living them. Packing lunches. Signing papers. Looking for missing shoes five minutes before the bus comes. Elementary school concerts, field trips, classroom parties and backpacks dropped wherever backpacks apparently believe they belong. And then one morning you realize you’re doing some of those things for the last time.
That’s probably why I keep taking the pictures. As a photographer, I’ve spent more than twenty years documenting other people’s milestones. I know how quickly the things that feel ordinary today become the things we desperately wish we could see again someday. The messy unorganized room. The messy hair. The sleepy face. The backpack that somehow looks enormous in kindergarten and completely normal a few years later. The front porch pictures. The walk to the bus. Even the kid who doesn’t particularly want his picture taken. Especially that kid.
Someday, Levi may roll his eyes at this tradition the same way his sister eventually did. Actually, let’s be serious. He absolutely will. But I also know he’ll humor me. Because he knows it matters to me. And someday, when he graduates, I’ll make him the same book I made for Mallory, kindergarten through twelfth grade, all those first mornings lined up beside each other. He’ll be able to watch himself grow one school year at a time. And maybe by then he’ll understand why his crazy photographer mother followed him around every August with a camera.
Today, though, I’m not ready to skip ahead that far. Today he’s just my fifth grader. A little nervous. Not particularly thrilled about school. Growing up faster than I’d like. And smiling before he got on the bus. One more first day documented.
Only seven more to go.But who’s counting? Me. Obviously. ❤️
First Day of Kindergarten
First Day of 1st Grade
First Day of 2nd Grade
First Day of 3rd Grade
First Day of 4th Grade
