Back to School

Today is the day, and while it will be nice to get a little freedom from the kids it is going to be sad watching them walk onto the bus for the first time this year. I wasn’t prepared to wake up with that emotion. I was prepared to be looking forward to a bit of extra quiet in the house or more freedom to work out of the house, but not the feeling of sadness in anticipation of them getting on the bus.

I do feel like we failed the summer. That we didn’t get enough fun family activities in. We never made it to the water park at all. Summer came and went too fast, and I can’t even say why. Beach hazard statements have a lot to do with our lack of beach time, but all the other stuff. No aquarium or zoo. That might be a lot of the sadness. Just when there is starting to be time to do things school is starting up and we’re losing the boys.

I am sure they are excited for the day, and hope they enjoy everything. We got messages from their teachers last night and it sounds like they are going to start up with a bit of a refresh. Counting and sounding out words and all that fun stuff that ended Kindergarten, but soon they will be getting to the more complicated math and the work of being a first grader.

Honestly, I have no idea what any of that is. I barely remember first grade. The only thing I remember about it is I loved math at the time. All I wanted to do was math. I would make my mother buy the math workbooks from Giant Food in Springfield so I could do extra math.

Other than that first grade is an extremely distant memory, and all I know today is the boys will be going away. They will be starting a new adventure and a new chapter in their lives, and next week Abigail will be going back to her school and for a few hours the house will be quiet and peaceful and we can get things done, but I don’t know if I am looking forward to it.

The children bring chaos, but it is the chaos of love and family and togetherness. It is time spent swinging in the back yard or playing together with cars and trucks or having fake fights together. It is the promise of future adventures and the opportunity to finally make it to that water park.