Big Day for Miss Madeline Smith

Maddy started it off right: with a backpack roughly half the size of the kid.^

My favorite little girl passed another milestone today: First Day of School. And she went in style, with her new 75-pound backpack, ensuring rounded shoulders by the time she's six and chronic back pain by 10.

Now I have to go dig up the photos of her dad heading off to school and the big thing he was carrying was Bus No. 42 hanging around his neck so he didn't get lost. Hell, I didn't even have that. Wearables are becoming more numerous and heavier as our kids get smarter.

Maddy's mama said she was so excited that she couldn't get to sleep last night. I don't remember feeling quite that way. As I recall, Mom and Dad had to team up to drag me down to North Augusta Elementary School, where I cried all day.