First Day of School

The kids came back today!  We had teacher meetings yesterday, but the first day isn't really the first day until the seats in my classroom are full of 7th graders.  I'm always excited for the start of a new school year, but this year brings some extra joys.
One of my former students is all grown up and working as a teaching assistant in our school.  She's helping out students in my classroom one period a day, and she is every bit as smart and kind now as she was when she was twelve.  I'm so...