First-day feelings
By Jacob Levy, editor and publisher
I was watching parents walk their kids to school a few days ago, and I caught myself being nostalgic for that first day feeling, back when everything was exciting and new for our children—and for us as parents.
I can recall that bittersweet sense of excitement as summer break comes to an end and it’s time to take the kids to the store to pick out a new lunchbox or backpack for class.
With age comes wisdom: those of us born before the nation’s bicentennial would love to believe this. One of the most difficult things about becoming older is staying in touch with how it felt to be young.
It’s important not to forget. To maintain, if not empathy, then at least rational compassion for what young families, workers and students have to face in contemporary OC.
Once we’re lucky/successful enough to no longer live paycheck to paycheck, it’s easy to forget how that feels. For homeowners who have seen your investment in Irvine grow, do you recall what it felt like to be a renter?Do you remember your first real job? Or to have just moved to Irvine, and feeling like you were home?
Many of us are more resistant to change as we age.
I know I am.
Nostalgia is part of human nature, and so is a tendency toward adopting curmudgeonly opinions later in life. But when thinking about things like economic opportunity and excellence in public education, try to remember what it felt like to be young. The concerns of raising children; the fear and excitement of looking for a job; that feeling as you watch your kids walk into class on the first day of school after a long, busy summer.
I can recall that bittersweet sense of excitement as summer break comes to an end and it’s time to take the kids to the store to pick out a new lunchbox or backpack for class.
With age comes wisdom: those of us born before the nation’s bicentennial would love to believe this. One of the most difficult things about becoming older is staying in touch with how it felt to be young.
It’s important not to forget. To maintain, if not empathy, then at least rational compassion for what young families, workers and students have to face in contemporary OC.
Once we’re lucky/successful enough to no longer live paycheck to paycheck, it’s easy to forget how that feels. For homeowners who have seen your investment in Irvine grow, do you recall what it felt like to be a renter?Do you remember your first real job? Or to have just moved to Irvine, and feeling like you were home?
Many of us are more resistant to change as we age.
I know I am.
Nostalgia is part of human nature, and so is a tendency toward adopting curmudgeonly opinions later in life. But when thinking about things like economic opportunity and excellence in public education, try to remember what it felt like to be young. The concerns of raising children; the fear and excitement of looking for a job; that feeling as you watch your kids walk into class on the first day of school after a long, busy summer.
