{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"First Day of School","description":"Friday is yet another first day of school. We will get the kids to pose on the front steps like we always do. ------------------------ It\u2019s 6:30am Wednesday morning. The house is quiet except for the non-ending, dripping rain that\u2019s been a part of this very wet summer. In twenty-four hours, this kitchen will be buzzing. Tomorrow is the first day of school and my kids will return to their morning rituals that we\u2019ve known so well for so many years \u2013 making lunches, packing backpacks, gathering clothes for practices, and looking for shoes that were accounted for last night but somehow, overnight, have been \u201cstolen.\u201d My wife and I have taken a picture of our kids on their first day of school every year since our oldest daughter, now a college sophomore, started Kindergarten. The kids lined up and smiled for the camera. Their faces were full of excitement for their older sister as she started school. They leaned towards each other, hugging and holding hands. Tomorrow there will be only three of them in the photo \u2013 their sister has returned to college -, and they\u2019ll wear different expressions as they\u2019re forced to pose for the same picture yet again this year. They\u2019ll not be leaning into each other; they\u2019ll not be holding hands. They\u2019ll say, \u201cThis is so stupid. Can you please hurry. We\u2019re going to be late.\u201d My wife and I will force them to stand there \u2013 asking for a smile is redundant \u2013 and then proudly post the picture just like parents everywhere do these days. Looking back on the old photos, I\u2019m sentimental about those days. We had little kid problems then. Now we have the challenges typical of teenagers. Back then we hoped their teachers would send them home with a smiley-face sticker and a good behavior report. Now we\u2019re lucky to learn anything about their day at all. We used to hear about their friends, and they\u2019d show off their artwork at the dinner table every night. Now we schedule family dinners four or five days in advance due to busy schedules and we have to remind the kids that they\u2019re required to be there. Tomorrow I\u2019m playing pickleball with my father and his buddies right in the middle of a busy workday. I already feel guilty not working but down the road I won\u2019t remember working on a Thursday. I will however, remember, saying, \u201cI\u2019m sorry, Dad, I\u2019m just too busy\u201d to the many times he\u2019s already asked me to play. He\u2019s eighty-five and tomorrow at lunch I\u2019ll be his playing partner. He'll show me off to his friends like he always does with my brothers and me, and he\u2019ll tell a little bit of my story and hug me and smile. He\u2019ll quietly think back to the days when I was much younger and wonder where time has gone and how much longer he and I have together. Just like I\u2019ll have done tomorrow morning as I watch my kids walk from their first day of school picture, climb in the car, and head away. I\u2019m Cam Marston and I\u2019m just trying to Keep It Real. ","author_name":"Keepin' It Real with Cam Marston","author_url":"https:\/\/cammarston.com\/keepin-it-real-with-cam-marston\/","html":"