Trust me, this is not one of those times where I will write about “when I was in school,” or those times where growing up in south Alabama, that “I had to walk to school in the snow uphill both directions.”

Instead, this is a time where I believe an occasion so great is upon us that a national holiday should be created. It is also a day — much like when free sweet tea is offered at McAlister’s — that should be well noted and circled on a calendar as to give the day its due and give us time to prepare our celebrations.

As parents, the first day of school is both traumatic and fantastic all at the same time.

As parents we go from trying like to heck to figure out what to do with our children during the summer — who will keep them, what camp are they going to, what Vacation Bible School is up next — to the pain and suffering of the morning routine.

It is a day worthy of celebration because now, for at least seven hours of the day, the children are in the capable hands of someone else. Lunch time is now ours once again, free to explore eateries in peace, knowing that there are no swim lessons or camp appointments until at least after 3 p.m.

The first day of school — other than those sending their children off to school for the very first time — is a day to celebrate and day long in coming.

The day has been preceded by the daunting task of school supply lists, finding that exact type of lined paper that a particular grade requires. There’s the discussion on whether the backpack you bought last year, might just have another year in its future.

There’s the clothes and uniform shopping, the shoe shopping and of course the searching of Pinterest to find those perfect school lunch ideas.

In our household, we have an up and coming fourth grader and two still a few years away from kindergarten.

While the little ones have been going to their school throughout the summer, our oldest is getting her schedule down, thinking about going to bed early and I’m sure she thinks about getting up early when she rolls over for another 10 to 20 minutes of sleep.

As she heads back to school Monday, some in the area would have already started back, while many others will be joining us in the rush to school, the navigating of the drop off lines and finding out that we did in fact buy the wrong kind of glue.

So, now that I think about it, maybe the first day of school shouldn’t be a national holiday. Instead, how about another round of sweet tea for those parents who survive the first day of school?