Senioritis

If you're a person who has a hard time accepting that summer is over, then one Montgomery County Public Schools Back to School Night will yank you right back to reality. Kick and scream if you want to but you are strapped onto a freight train of lunches and homework and sports and concerts and meetings, and there are no stops between here and June.

Yes, it's BTS night at Rockville High School and I'm sitting in a stairwell waiting for the festivities to begin. Four years of Rockville BTS nights taught me that arriving early enough to get a parking spot near the exit is key, so I arrived at 6. I joined the Booster Club and the PTSA, so I'm $60 poorer but rich in the knowledge that I am a responsible member of the Rockville High School community.

It's 6:30 now so class rotations will begin soon. I don't need a map and I don't need directions from the student guides and I don't need to visit the counseling office. I'm an alumni parent so I know these ropes. I'll walk the halls when the bell rings, adding considerably to my step count for today; and I'll meet my son's teachers (several of whom I already know). Then I will skip out midway through 8th period and run to my car, and I'll be on Baltimore Road before the rest of the suckers even get out of the building. Freshmen. SMH.