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We all have a first day of school story, and if you’re anything like me, you try your hardest to get everything just right. You’ve been to Target with the supply list weeks ago, the carefully selected outfit is laid out on the bed, the refrigerated tube of cinnamon rolls are ready to go for breakfast. But no matter how hard you try, there is always something you’ve missed and in the end some drama unfolds.

At my house, I forgot to set out the prepared backpacks by the front door the evening before. At 7am, my 5-year-old daughter Ava realized she had no idea where her brand new backpack full of her school supplies was. We looked EVERYWHERE. How can you lose a gigantic blue and green froggy backpack filled to the brim with stuff? 

I tore apart her room, pulled the bed out from the wall, and threw all the toys around in the attic looking for this thing. I had the horrific vision of me being the only parent to send their kid to K5 on the first day with no backpack, no supplies, NOTHING. Ava started whimpering and while I tried to tell her that it was really my fault and not hers, it was not making her feel any better. As for me, I was a complete, frantic mess.

Then I burned the cinnamon rolls. 

I had forgotten about them in the midst of the Great Backpack Fiasco of aught-9. And they weren’t just a little bit dark .My girls stared at the blackened pan wistfully as if they had just seen their last glimmer of hope for the new day fade into the sunset. They went to bed dreaming of these things and I had scorched them into hockey pucks. I dumped them into the trash, handed my oldest a cereal box and headed back upstairs for one last ditch effort at find the missing bag. I dumped out a bin of dress up clothes in the back of the closet and behold - Le Backpack.

The three of us eventually made it to school a little bit ruffled but in one piece. I sent them off to class lunch boxes in hand, new knee socks pulled up high and complaining a bit about how much stuff they had to lug around on the first day. Crisis managed.

So what is the point of this story? (Obviously, plan better next time for the big day. Have everything you need double and triple checked the night before.) But also, sometimes when we set out to make everything perfect we end up setting ourselves up for disappointment. 

I started our summer with grand plans to be at the pool every other day, have road trips and afternoons by the lake and sleepovers galore. Last week when I saw the final days of vacation slip away, I felt guilty that I hadn’t lived up to the glorious image of summer I had painted in my mind. It seems I set out about the first day of school the same way. I pictured them smiling cream cheese frosting smiles and skipping hand in hand up the street to school when in reality life is a bit messier

There’s probably always going to be a mishap or two along the way and I need to deal with these situations without a full on freak out.  If I can just learn to do this then I think we will all be a little happier in the long run.

Also, I’m totally making a checklist.