J. L. Long Middle School is bigger than I imagined it being. In all honesty, I've never been inside the school. But I'd been inside Woodrow Wilson High School several times and saw it next door. Compared to the high school Long looked small. But this morning when I took my daughter to her first day at Long, it loomed — loomed like Castle Frankenstein. All we needed were some pitchforks and torches to complete the scene.

Not only was the school bigger, but the students looked bigger. They looked like teens next to my daughter, who to me still looks like a kid. And with bigger buildings and bigger students came bigger confusion.

Lines surrounded the building, tables with make shift signs, "A-L," "M-Z," and other designations I couldn't read through the mob.

I felt like I was at a cattle call. My daughter would have died if I hadn't suppressed my urge to "moo" a few times.

But seriously, we were herded around the main line and into the building. There was no stopping. Once Shelby looked back, she was aghast to see me still behind her with the camera.

"You're coming in?"
"Yep."
"I don't think you're supposed to."
"Yes, I am."
"I don't think cameras are allowed."
"Yes, they are."

Inside the school was worse than the lawn out front. They had all the makings of a serious "cluster." Teachers yelling, "Tuck in those shirts!" across the hall at students 10 times my daughter's size. One volunteer was yelling, "Sixth-grade girls: to the cafeteria!"

That's where, according to a forwarded e-mail message, we should pick up a class schedule. It was my understanding that sixth-graders were receiving their schedules at Camp Caribbean, so they could find their classes and avoid the confusion. The schedules were not ready. Looking at the chaos of the first day, I was unconvinced that the school was any more ready today.

Schedule in hand we found a table of other Lakewood girls. They compared notes and looked at maps. I continued to take photos while Shelby successfully dodged them. Her father arrived with the video camera and if she could have crawled under the table, she would have.

One minute later the bell rang and the room literally exploded. My head spun. Shelby kissed me, yelled "bye," and ran away.

It wasn't until I was back at the car comparing notes with her father that I realized how much of the confusion was my own. We had her lunch sack. He ran back into the school to make sure she would have a lunch. The office informed him that they would have difficult time finding her, but that they would try.

Cluster …

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