Goodbye, 9th Grade Brain!

So it’s the start of a new school year. And with it, comes all the craziness of a new school year, new schedules and new routines.

But I will embrace ALL of that, if I can kiss that 9^th grade brain goodbye.

Let me explain.

My youngest daughter seemed to struggle with incredible forgetfulness during her freshman year of high school. INCREDIBLE forgetfulness.

• Forgotten – and important and mandatory – homework, project and take home exams.
• Left behind UNIFORMS.
• Lunch money that didn’t find its way into a back pack.

You get the idea.

I just didn’t remember my oldest doing this. As in, at all.

So, we managed to muddle through the school year, with running said “forgotten insert item here”  to the school. Sometimes it was me. Sometimes it was her grandparents (thank you, Mom and Pop!). Sometimes it was her aunt (thank you, Laura!). And sometimes it was her dad. It seemed we all took turns.

And I still didn’t remember my oldest doing this.

And then it was June.

Instead of getting better, it got WORSE.

On one of my trips into the school, I remarked to the extremely kind woman who sits inside the front office doors that, “You know, I think my daughter secretly wants us to be BFFs. Why else would she want me to see you – every day?”

We both laughed.

And then it was the last day of school and she was almost done. All that stood between her and summer was two finals.

Out the door she flew, headed to the bus stop, a big smile on her face.

Then I got the txt.

The PANIC txt.

MOM!! I forgot my calculator!!!! And I have a math final, like soon!!

Seriously???

So I made a quick side trip to school before heading to work. My new BFF buzzed me in, and looking at my bag, she asked what brought me in today.

“Oh, it’s a calculator today.”

“OHHH,” she said seriously. “You need to head around the corner for that.”

Wow….I must be getting VIP treatment now. As I rounded the corner into the main section of the school office, I stopped dead in my tracks. I just could NOT believe what I was seeing.

An ENTIRE SECTION of the counter was covered.

Covered with calculators.

Each with a little sticky note, bearing a child’s name.

A child who, too, had forgotten his or her calculator.

I did a quick count. My kids go to a fairly small high school but still, the results smacked me in the face. Just about 1 out of every 4 of the 9^th graders – 25% – had forgotten their calculators that day.

The Ultimate Curse of the 9^th Grade Brain.

As I talked to yet another lovely secretary, I learned that indeed, these calculators ALL belonged to 9^th graders.

She smiled sweetly and told me not to worry.  Summer was coming, and 9^th grade would be over soon.

I called my husband on the way home, still dazzed by this. He reminded me that our oldest DID experience this same 9th grade forgetfulness thing. 

I had just forgotten.