I walked my daughter to school today. Her small hand firmly grasped mine as we took the quarter mile journey to first grade. Older sister is in middle school and older brother had to be there early, so it was just the two of us. The bright early morning sun was just cresting over our majestic Wasatch Mountains. Looking east was blinding, except that when my eyes were closed I could feel the warmth on my skin as the light radiated through my eyelids, making my closed eyes see red. We walked along the busy road, I waved at neighbors who were driving to school. The dog’s bark startled me, even though I knew it was coming. A nasty chewed up tennis ball had rolled to a stop, probably the day before, off to the side of the sidewalk. I wonder who overshot the throw for the eager pup. We crossed at the street, and gave a warm greeting to the crossing guard, a mid-aged comely female, with a friendly smile. Ally still held tightly onto my hand. We walked up the small hill to the school, gave a greeting to the 5th grade crossing guards as we walked through the teacher’s parking lot, and passed the kindergarten courtyard. Along the back side of the red brick, one story school is where my daughter lines up for class. One 1st grade girl besides my daughter stood as sentinel in a line of 15 abandoned backpacks in my daughter’s class line. Each bag was a marker for where little feet would stand in just moments after the bell rang. I image crumpled papers, homework folders and sack lunches inside: notes from mom, signatures for field trips and crumb remnants of breakfast, as little bellies were fed with a piece of warm buttered toast. For the moment the high-energy littles were running frantically on the playground before morning studies began. A small group of kids were playing chase. The boys were clustered in a small circle, which was actually painted yellow on the black top. Outside of the central circle were two other larger circles, almost like the orbiting line of planets rotating around the sun. When one of the boys got enough courage mustered he would run out of the center, screaming as a enthusiastic, boy-crazed girl would chase, until...