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We’re officially at the end of July, which seemed to go by so quick that we hardly remember it.

Is it just us, or do the summer months go by faster than all the rest?

All that aside, it feels like this month is a pivotal one in our country, and locally, when it comes to overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic. August is a month we usually celebrate because students return to school and fall sports kick off.

Both of those things will still happen next month, though they’ll look a little different than normal.

A little over 70 percent of Troup County School System students are choosing to return to in-person instruction, but this year they’ll wear masks, walk through temperature scanners and social distance.

Football, softball and other fall sports teams are practicing and preparing to play through an entire season.

Although we’ve slowly been trending toward normalcy a little at a time, the return to school is a significant step. After months being spread apart, we’re actually going to have students and faculty members in buildings and on fields together.

We think it’s a good thing because students need to learn, and they also need their lives to get back to some form of a normal schedule. But we also admit we’re nervous as we go into this next month.

So, together we move into an August unlike any we’ve dealt with before, and we’re hoping for the best.