Rainy late-summer Saturday

Due to Tropical Storm Danny passing listlessly off-shore, it's a rainy and dreary day here. Strangely, I found myself looking forward to running in the rain, which was falling steadily by midmorning, and the reports were for downpours by the afternoon, so I went earlier than usual, in the late morning. I took the dog and we did three miles and the rain didn't bother me a bit: the cool air felt refreshing and the rain just seemed like a soothing steady backdrop to the rhythm of my feet. Everything about running suddenly seems easier now that the air has cooled and the humidity eased.

Though no doubt disappointing to people with late-vacation plans, the weather seems fitting to me and appropriate to what I want to get done today: organize the household and ourselves for back-to-school time. It's always so tempting to believe that being organized at the start of the year means everything will stay that way for the next nine months. It's like tidying up a room really well and wanting to believe everything will somehow stay exactly in place rather than gradually drifting into disarray again: if we start the school year with early bedtimes, clean clothes, a roster of nutritious lunches and a tidy workspace for homework, the whole year will somehow fall into place. I know it won't really happen that way, but surely getting off on a good foot is the right first step.

When I was growing up, I put such faith in school supplies: buy the right notebooks and highlighters and a year of good study habits would follow. Unfortunately, no quantity of school supplies could make up for my innate tendency to disorganization, procrastination and poor prioritization skills. (And by "poor prioritization skills," I of course mean watching a boys soccer game rather than doing homework. Fancy terminology!) School supplies are neither a crutch nor an issue for us now because every child is given the same standardized list of what to buy, which is both easy and reassuring. As a mother, though, I still look at all the different ways I can try to get this school year off on the right foot and only hope that a strong start will pay off.

I asked both of the kids to make lists of bag lunches they would actually eat rather than toss and snacks they wouldn't complain about. We've talked about what time Tim will have to get up now that he's on the earlier school schedule, and whether he should walk, bike or take the bus to school. Holly has her wardrobe for the first week lined up and ready to go. With Tim, what to wear to school is more a matter of my rejecting various choices than his selecting them. I myself started moving my wake-up time five minutes earlier every day beginning last Monday in hopes that I can ratchet back to 6 AM fairly painlessly by Wednesday.

Nutritionists always tell us that eating a well-balanced and robust breakfast is the healthiest way to start the day, and I'll use that as my metaphor: being as prepared as I can be for the first day of school is, I hope, the best way to ensure a successful school year. One characterized by strong study habits, happy children and a minimum of early-morning chaos. We'll find out soon enough.