September 4: "Surprise," First Day of School, New Routine

I don't like surprises.  Never have.

I always go into a classroom with a lesson plan; start my days prioritizing tasks; type up itineraries for trips; create lists and lists in my planner so nothing is overlooked or forgotten.

If I'm ever taken by surprise, I've failed in some way.

But Billy Collins has a few surprises up his sleeve . . .

Surprise

by: Billy Collins

This--
according to the voice on the radio,
the host of a classical music program no less--
this is the birthday of Vivaldi.

He would be 325 years old today--

quite bent over, I would imagine,
and not able to see much through his watery eyes.

Surely, he would be deaf by now,
the clothes flaking off him,
hair pitiably sparse.

But we would throw a party for him anyway,
a surprise party where everyone
would hide behind the furniture to listen

for the tap of his cane on the pavement
and the sound of his dry, persistent cough.

There were no surprises for me today.  My son was feeling much better and went to school.  The only thing that caught me off guard was how easy it was to get him to pose for a first-day-of-school photo.  It helped that he was holding his puppy.

When I picked my son up this afternoon, he was fully back into school mode.  Laughing and joking with his friends.  Jumping in the car and grunting at me when I asked how his first day was.  You know, normal, 15-year-old teenage boy behavior.

I'm also trying to settle into my new routine of school and work.  I really should be used to this shift.  I've been doing it for over 30 years now.  Every three or so months, everything changes--summer into autumn into winter into spring.  

But, no surprises today, aside from the fact that I'm coming down with a really nasty cold.

Saint Marty has a dry, persistent cough right now.