How my daughter’s first day of school exposed a 35 year old family secret

It’s amazing how many sleepless nights lead up to the first day of school. All those fears. And that’s just the parents.
But my anxiety turned out to be justified as my daughter’s first day of school unearthed a decades-old family secret.

We survived.

After days, weeks and months of anticipation, the first day of school was just that. One day.

And we survived.

There were no tears. There was no separation anxiety.

There was just a little bit of drama. Miss Preppie managed to be the first to tumble down the stairs of the new school building.

She lost a bit of skin. The oversized dressings (on both legs) still didn’t quite cover her war wounds.

Thank God I’d already taken the all important first day photos.

I had a great idea for them. Wouldn’t it be nice for Miss Preppie to recreate her mum and dad’s first day at school photos?

Mum found her photo. I dragged out my baby book.

There it was.

Me, casually leaning against a door frame, cardboard school bag in hand. Short shorts and long socks. Neatly knotted tie. Gazing off into the distance, perhaps contemplating the next 12 years of my life.

And above it, my mother’s neat script: “First day at School – 5 yrs”.

I set about copying my father’s handiwork from 35 years ago.

I shifted mats, lifted heavy pot plants, adjusted angles and finally knew where I wanted Miss Preppie.

Thankfully, in her excitement, she was happy for me to push her this way and that and manhandle the angle of her feet. She was even okay with staring into nothing. I don’t think she was contemplating the next 12 years, though.

I was happy. She was happy.

We went on and replicated her mum’s photo. It’s incredible how alike they are.

“I look so much older than Miss Preppie in my photo,” I told my wife when I saw them side by side.

“You were tall, that’s all,” she replied.

Then we were off to school. And before we knew it we were back at school for pick up. And hearing about Miss Preppie’s accident. Then home. And hearing about everything else that had happened during those first few hours.

Then my Dad phoned.

“Now listen, lovely photos,” he started. I knew the next word before I heard it.

“But,” he continued. “Has your brother said anything about that photo next to the door?”

He hadn’t.

“Because that’s not you in the photo, it’s him.”

Silence.

Disbelief.

Silence.

Eventually I realised he was wrong.

“No, it’s not. It’s in my baby book, labelled ‘first day of school’.”

Turns out he wasn’t wrong. My baby book was wrong.

The one photographic record of my childhood and it turns out my mum had fudged it.

I can imagine how it happened.

“Ah, bugger, I forgot to take a photo. You know, third kid and all. It’s getting boring now. Chuck in that shot of the eldest son. This one will never know. They look pretty similar, anyhow. Just make sure you don’t use one of the redhead, we’ll get busted for sure.”

Oh, and remember how I looked older than Miss Preppie? Well, it wasn’t actually my brother’s first day of school. It was his first day after changing schools.

So my daughter’s first day at school exposed a 35 year old family secret.

Jokes aside, I’m sure it was an honest mistake. A jumbling of photos to sort through when putting three baby books together.

Who knows, maybe there is a shot of my first day at school, hidden away in my Dad’s old negatives.

I’ll never get the chance to recreate it. But I still love the photo I took of Miss Preppie this morning.

I might even put it in her baby book.

Follow Michael on Twitter @MichaelCoombes