Just another brick in the wall.

Last night was open house at Derry’s new school. He will be starting Riverview High School on Monday. He is nervous it is obvious, over the last week or so you can see him becoming quieter and a little anxious looking. I am dreading it. It’s hard to believe my baby is going to high school; it only seems like yesterday since he was the cutest, the blondest, the most adorable little cherub at playgroup and nursery. Just a little bundle of loveliness. Now he is going to damn high school with spotty little nerds and girls in short shorts and rings through the belly buttons. UG! Why oh why must time insist on marching on?
So anyhow, off to open house we trotted. Unfortunately David couldn’t make it as his building seemed to think it was on fire. It wasn’t, but that didn’t stop the alarm bells or fire engines!!
First there was a lecture from the Principal about behavior, cell phones and the dress code, that sort of thing. It seems incredible to me that the kids don’t have to wear a uniform, not very British at all, but then again I must remember, ‘when in Rome …’ I guess I should be grateful for having boys, Derry is happy with a pair of ratty old shorts and a Metallica t-shirt, not very school-ish but not all that expensive either! Neither do I have to worry about his cleavage being on show or that he is wearing too much make-up. Hurrah for little boys! So the Principal rambled on, he actually seemed like a decent sort of dude, and is rightfully proud of his ‘tight-ship’. Hopefully he wasn’t just saying what he thought parents wanted to hear and that he does maintain these standards. David and I are quite jaded as the last seemingly great Magnet school that Derry attended was a damn joke and the Principal did nothing but pander to the needs of the delinquents and trouble makers.
Before the Principal finished he mentioned God and encouraged us to pray for the school. Scott almost had a fit and started whispering loudly about the separation of church and state. Derry just looked incredibly worried. I glanced around the auditorium, saw I was vastly outnumbered and sank into my chair.
So, next it was visitation with the teachers. At first we were a little overwhelmed at the size of the school, and it seemed too big and imposing for my little boy, too many miles to walk between classes, too many scary teachers, but we found our groove and dug it. It’s not so bad, the teachers seemed like teachers and not nicey-nicey social workers, the gym was beautiful, there are palm trees and benches everywhere, no graffiti, no litter or little wads of chewing gum stuck all over the place, yeah it was okay. We also learned that Riverview have a decent hockey team so hopefully Derry will be able to play for them one day.
Derry’s school day will be: English Honors, Physical Science Honors, Advanced Reading, American Government Honors, Algebra, Gym, and Computing. The same classes, day in and day out for the next year.
I just hope that his time at Riverview will be wonderful, full or fun, great friends and pretty girls, and who knows; maybe he will even learn something.

Now Im off to wake up the boys and get ready for clinic.