Thirty years ago this week I was a last-minute hire at Cannon Fall High School to teach 7th grade Life science. Prior to that I had done my student teaching, had a long-term sub position and taught a stint of summer school high school science, but this was my first classroom of my own, which is what I consider the beginning of my life as a teacher.

This year, however, I’m not really thinking as much about me and my fellow teachers but I’m thinking about the students and mostly today I’m thinking about the parents who are sending their kids off to school for the first time, once again, or especially those parents watching their kids making big transitions–to new schools, new grades, and as they leave the nest to attend college and/or otherwise move out on their own into the real world.

It can be a scary place. Best we can do is hope we’ve given them the resources and confidence to take flight when they leap from that nest for the first time. So, here’s a song for those of you watching your eaglets take that next leap.