I remember my first day of kindergarten.

I was so proud of my new princess backpack

and I was so excited to ride the big yellow school bus. It was the first time I had ever
ridden in a vehicle without a seatbelt, which was pretty thrilling for a 6-year-old. I was
unhappy because the bus driver assigned me a seat beside a little boy I had never met
before, but I was outgoing, so I quickly got over my discomfort. The weather outside
was cloudy and the air was thick with fog. I occupied myself with blowing on the window
and tracing shapes upon my exhale while waiting for everyone to board the bus.

We soon arrived at school, and I met my teacher named Mrs. Lichey. She was a young
teacher with curly brown hair and warm eyes. She was kind, but in a firm, no-nonsense
kind of way. I liked her immediately but was overwhelmed by all the new faces and
places. We started by introducing ourselves, and I immediately made friends with a little
girl named Clara. We went through the alphabet as a class and covered other various
common school topics. My favorite part was reading; we had a 10-minute free time
where we got to choose a book from a mini library. The books were organized by
difficulty coordinated by letters; the easiest books were labeled “A,” the harder books
were labeled “B,” and so on. I immediately located the hardest level I could read and
sounded out as many words as possible. If I didn’t know a word, I simply made one up
and moved on. Clara was also a good reader, and throughout the year, we would
challenge each other to see who could read the most difficult book.

By the end of the day, I was exhausted and ready to go home. I started crying, and Mrs.
Lichey came over looking concerned. She pulled me aside and asked, “What’s wrong?”

I said, “Nothing.”

She said, “You have an eyelash on your face. That means you get a wish!”

I stopped crying and said, “Really?!”

She plucked it off my face and held it out, and I said, “My wish is to go home” and then I
blew it off her finger.

She said, “I happen to know that your wish is coming true; the buses are lined up in the
parking lot and you will be leaving in less than 10 minutes.”

Consoled, I wiped my tears away, gave her a hug, and ran off to enjoy my last five
minutes of school. I came home with a happy heart and fond memories of my first day
of school.