The first week of school is an exciting, and exhausting, time for everyone in the family. As a grandparent, it’s a sigh of relief, knowing we don’t have to get up before dawn and face those early-morning battles.

That first week can also be a sentimental one. We remember the tender moments from when our children were young and eager to go to school.

There’s an excitement about shopping for back-to-school supplies. I imagined leisurely picking out backpacks, supplies, and clothes with the boys, all of us happy about this new phase.

That’s not exactly how those preparations happened.

Even when I shopped early, there were angry crowds on the school supply aisle, and not just from the frazzled moms. There was the inevitable argument and meltdown with my sons about what kind of backpack to buy.

Batman and Spiderman were popular. One year, there was no rest until we found a backpack decorated with Ninja Turtles. When they left elementary school, we were looking for plain black backpacks.

I went shopping with my grandchildren for backpacks, and the 10-year-old practically jumped for joy when he found one with Minecraft logos. When he touched the front and the panel lit up, you’d have thought he won the lottery.

The school supply list is a nightmare for parents. I learned early to buy the kit from the school, but there were always a few “extras” they needed that weren’t on the list. I was frantic, trying to find everything listed.

But the first year I cleaned out backpacks in May and found that unopened pack of red-and-blue pencils, I quit trying to check everything off the list.

Lunchboxes were a new adventure as well. Mine claimed they didn’t like the school-provided lunch, so I made their lunches every morning. Said lunches had to go in an acceptable lunchbox. Popular ones for our boys included a few Batman lunchboxes, a Roger Rabbit plastic one and the must-have Ninja Turtle lunchboxes.

Once they were in middle school, the only acceptable lunch container was a brown paper bag. Because they were growing, I had to join Sam’s Club so I could buy larger paper bags.

I was lucky that my sons weren’t picky about clothes. If there was a superhero on the front, we were good to go.

Once uniforms were instituted, back-to-school clothes shopping got a whole lot easier.

Until they got to high school. Then I became an ignoramus who churned butter and had absolutely no fashion sense. I finally gave them a budget and let them choose what they wanted. If they wanted to blow the budget on a pair of expensive jeans, that was their choice.

Luckily, they were used to checking price tags, so they usually made frugal choices.

Then, finally, the first day of school arrives.

As the bus lumbered down the street, boys safely inside, I remember closing the front door and sighing with relief that the morning chaos was over.

I replayed the “Halleluiah” chorus in my mind as I headed to the kitchen to put away cereal boxes, milk, and half-eaten pieces of toast.

I didn’t realize it at the time, but those first days of school would be memories in the blink of an eye.

Now my grandchildren are looking forward to their first day of school. Reliving my sons’ days through them is a nostalgic feeling I’m glad to share with my daughters-in-law.

They are wonderful moms, and I believe they’re feeling the same way I felt for all those years. I know they’re shedding a few tears as they wave goodbye.

There’s a big part of me that’s relieved I don’t have to pack up three lunches every morning, fight the “did-you-brush-your-teeth” battles and pray nobody tells me they feel like throwing up.

At this point, the memories are what’s priceless.

This column was originally published in The Fort Bend Herald.