The Silence...

When kids go to school for the first day of the year a silence descends upon the neighborhood. While some would beg to differ when watching the hair on my neck stand on end, and as I grimace while listening to them shriek in a shopping mall, believe it or not I love kids. But there is nothing quite like the blanket of calm here today. There is no screaming. No "human child police siren" imitator. There is no ice cream truck. No colicky wails from across the block. I can even open the window!

So yes, while the first day of school hails the death knell of summer it opens a door on a feeling... a "waiting to exhale" that comes with living not only in Baltimore, but other cities like it. You've made it through another summer. And now, for 5 days a week at least, from about 8am to 2pm there is a quietness about the world.