Viral Photo Shows How Depressed Moms Are On The First Day Of School

Mom’s hilarious back-to-school photo goes viral

It’s the most wonderful tiiiime of the year! No, I’m not talking about Christmas. Back-to-school season is here, and parents everywhere are rejoicing for a return to normalcy and no more kids leaving wet bathing suits everywhere and whining that they’re bored from dawn till dusk. One mom captured that glee in a hilarious photo that’s quickly gone viral.

Alabama mom Keshia Gardner has made a yearly tradition of getting a snap of herself whooping it up on the first day of school while her forlorn children stand in the background waiting for the bus. But as she tells Fox 13, this is the first time the photo has gone viral. “We do them every year. My husband takes them and he’s a plumber. We just do them really quickly before we leave for school. For some reason, this one decided to go viral.”

Thank goodness for that. The photo is highly relatable to any parent who’s spent the summer trying to keep their kids entertained, not fighting and not destroying the house. The joy teachers feel on the last day of school is the same joy parents feel on the first day of school. And Gardner’s photos capture it perfectly.

Look at that face. It is everything. As her kids display a mixture of sadness and total mortification, Gardner gives not a single shit and dances past them basking in her special day. Every parent with kids in school will totally understand her happiness.

Ok, maybe not every parent. There are a handful of sanctimommy kill-joys in the comments saying they just love having their kids home all summer, as though being glad school is starting again means no fun was had. As a mom who will be sporting the exact same face as Gardner when my kids go back next month, I can say with certainty that isn’t the case.

My kids and I have had a total blast this summer, but I will be the happiest mom in the world when they climb those bus steps and I head back to my silent house. I love them dearly and they love me, but after awhile, we all need to retreat to our corners. I work from home and trying to do that with kids around (have you seen the price of summer camp?) is no small thing. I’m tired of breaking up their bickering. I’m tired of picking up wet towels off the floor. I’m tired of little puddles of melty Popsicle everywhere I go. Enough, kids. Mommy’s tired.

So to that end, I’m raising my first-day-of-school glass of cabernet to all the other parents as excited as Gardner to send their kids back to school. Summer’s been grand, but it’s time.

Good luck, teachers!