Things, they are a changin' - Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho

Getting the uniforms and school supplies ready - that was the easy part.  Watching my baby leave for his first day of Kindergarten - now that’s a different story all together.  I have been dreading/looking forward to this day for a LONG time and now that it’s here, I’m just not sure how I should feel about it.  It’s not like it’s a huge adjustment, I mean he’s only gone for 2 ½ hours in the mornings (barely enough time for me to get home and get a shower before picking him up again), but it’s the idea of it - the realization that LIFE as I have known it for the past 16 years is changing.  Knowing that the need my children have for me is lessening and that the sweet embrace this beautiful season of life has had on me is loosening.  Don’t get me wrong, I know I still have a long way to go, but it is a milestone sending your youngest off to school and I am feeling its effects.

Eli was so excited to be going to school with his big sisters, but neither of us escaped the morning without a few tiny tears.  He was a little worried, but mostly thrilled and I was mostly worried, but a little thrilled.  Oh I hope I’ve prepared him enough and I hope he thrives and I hope he learns and I hope he makes a good friend - I hope he is a good friend and I hope he can get his pants unbuttoned when he has to go to the bathroom.

Here they all are (except the 2 oldest, who started a week later).  I will miss them and the lazy days we have enjoyed this summer.  I will miss having 38 dirty cups resting half full on the countertop.  I will miss the long conversations about nothing.  I will miss the noise.  I will miss them!

Now, what do I plan on doing with myself?  My list is too long to fit into the space of 2 ½ hours, but suffice it to say I am having pangs of selfishness that have yet to be fulfilled – Institute on Thursday mornings?  Do I have time for Yoga?  How about breakfast with the girls (and what I mean by “girls” is adult women otherwise known as friends) once a month?  Maybe just a morning in my PJs with a good book?  In actuality I will probably only manage to get home and get the kitchen cleaned and start a load of laundry, but oh the possibilities are killing me…..