Back to School, Back to Blogging

All the cool kids are doing it.

That is, hittin' the books again. 

Last Monday I piled up the school supplies, divied them up, labeled them, threw them in a bag and then we hit the back to school night like pros.

Luke, in 3rd grade, is in a new building but since it's designed exactly the same as his old building all we had to do was find his classroom and desk. No problem. We met his teacher, signed the party sheet (Christmas), and put away neatly in his desk (the only time ever his desk will be this clean) his school supplies. That's when I realized I sent him to school with zero pencils sharpened. Oh well. The pencils will get sharpened, broken, sharpened, chewed on, and eventually will be left in bits at the bottom of his desk. He's come home with papers completed in pencil, so it looks like that has resolved itself. 

Ben, in 6th grade, is also in a new building. Before we left, Bill asked Ben if he had gone up earlier to find his locker and try the combination. Hah! No. With Audrey I was on top of the locker thing and finding all her classes. With my second child, I'm, well, not in such a worked up state. We found his teacher, his locker, practiced two times and left.

Back to school is easier the older your family gets.

Audrey had no official back to school night. She went in earlier that day for student council work and had already been at school the week before for marching band. Plus she's a junior. In 11th grade. She has two years left in high school. We assume she found her locker and all her classes and has the appropriate supplies. In fact, she had to leave earlier than the boys the first day so I have two separate pictures of the kids. Being a junior feels very busy. 

The question always is "How did this happen?" 

It just does. It's supposed to.

I'm not going to lie to you. Seeing them grow and change makes me oh so happy and ache a little all at the same time. I don't want to go back and I won't ever, ever prevent them from going forward into more and more of who they were made to be. I think my heart just can't keep up sometimes.

As you've noticed, I took a big break. My writing this past year slowly dwindled away with bursts of posts here and there and then finally stopped altogether. But now, I'm back. I think. It took me two days to write this.

Thanks for sticking with me this long.