When I was pregnant with Dillon, my family threw me a baby shower. My aunts and cousins passed around a book and added notes of parenting advice. (Little did I know my baby would arrive a few days later — three weeks early.) I’ll never forget what my cousin Teresa wrote — a poem you’ve probably heard:
Cleaning and scrubbing can wait ’til tomorrow
For babies grow up, we’ve learned to our sorrow
So quiet down cobwebs and dust go to sleep
I’m rocking my baby, and babies don’t keep.
This morning, as I was making coffee, I thought of that poem. Tomorrow, I’ll be the mom of a Kindergartner. And even though my last couple of posts go on and on about how I’m ready, I’d be telling a half-truth if I didn’t admit it stings a little bit. Another emotion that took me by surprise. I thought I was fine. And I am fine. I guess all seasons of life are bitter and sweet.
So for the past few days, I’ve let my emails pile up and neglected my “things to do” as my family and I enjoyed the last few days of summer vacation.
We spent a lazy day at the beach
Snacked on some sand…
Lounged by the pool…
Thought deep thoughts…
And prepared for takeoff. (Thanks for the turbo boost, Patrick and Beth)
Overall, I do think we’re ready for this new season and all the adventures that will come with it.
That is, everyone except Blake. I’m sure he’ll come around.
Who’s ready for Fall? Anyone? And if you’d like to have my blog delivered to your reader or inbox, click here.
It will be tough for a week or so and then it will all settle down for everyone. Dillon will love school, Blake will get used to getting most all of the “Mommy” time and you will stop crying each morning when Dillon leaves. Hang in there and I love the pics today!
Thanks… I’d be sadder if they weren’t so darn funny.
My oldest starts Middle School today. It is bittersweet. She doesn’t look like a middle-schooler – she can’t even reach the shelves in her locker. But the realization that she’s growing up struck as we were trying to work her locker. She’s growing up!
Hi Jenny! Thanks for stopping by. It really catches you off guard, doesn’t it?
The first few days are the hardest, and then, as Lou said, you’ll stop crying every morning and even enjoy that little extra freedom
There are so many rites of passage we go through as parents, each one paving the way for the next as they become incrementally more momentous. I’ll be thinking of you in the coming days.
Thank you, Becca! I know you speak from experience. I enjoyed seeing the photo of your grandson’s nursery-in-progress.
I can remember being tiny, the view of my Mom as she held me in her arms and rocked me. She would rub my eyelids to try to keep the closed, and she sang in time with the squeaking rhythm of the chair. Sometimes, I wish I could go back there, to that place where I felt safe.
I remember when you blogged about this and it brought me to tears. I hope my kids remember, too.
Fantastic pictures! I especially love the last two. I used to cry on the first day of school every year with my oldest child. She was an only child for 12 years. With my younger two, I feel the bittersweet tug, but this year I’m also welcoming schedule back into our lives. It helps, too, that they are so excited.
I am welcoming schedule, too! Also, I’m an only child, so my mom can really relate.
Angie, I can truly relate to your feelings, only add enough years to get to the college age. We are taking MY baby to college this week! So take motherly angst, add “what will we do with our empty nest”, and you have a real emotional pot going. I am DEFINITELY ready, and so is he, and that makes it harder because it is such a bitter sweet tearing apart. I have always heard that God gave us the teenage years so we would let go, and I now know it is true. But it still isn’t easy. I look forward to my son “having some freedom”, so he will hopefully learn to appreciate us; however, I miss my little boy who was so very loving and so close to me. I know it will be OK because I survived when my first child went off to college, but I also know that I need to FEEL this, and LIVE fully in it so I will appreciate the things to come.
Good luck this week! My heart is with you!
p.s. I loved that poem.
!
There’s a magic to feeling it and living it fully. So often we resist because it’s uncomfortable and sometimes hurts, but that is where the true living is.
(And I can hear the Tiger Rag now)
You describe the things I miss about not having kids; I know I would have loved being a mom, bitter-sweet moments and all. And I remember how my grandparents used to say that time goes by faster the older you get so don’t wish your childhood away – they were right, of course! For me there is always melancholy attached to the change of the seasons and I don’t mind that at all, it somehow helps me appreciate the now, even if this doesn’t make much sense. And yes, I am soooo ready for fall. In fact, it is cool today and raining buckets and I am loving it
Makes total sense.
I’ve been enjoying reading your posts about kindergarten since I’ll be in your shoes one year from now. I meet so many parents who either say they cried their eyes out or had a blast that first day with all of their free time. I think I’ll be somewhere in the middle, but the anticipation of that first day has me feeling anxious yet excited. I know I still have a year to go, but my four-year-old is just very excited to go, probably because her elementary school is the color pink.
I am very excited about fall! We don’t get the midwest feel of fall here in the southwest, but I still love it when the weather starts to cool down. And especially this year as it means my husband will soon return from deployment and our baby will be born. So extra excitement for this fall!
You have so many things to look forward to! I, too, fell somewhere in the middle today.
Here in SC, we get a feeling of Fall for about two weeks.