I definitely swallowed a bug tonight while I was running. I run less often at night than in the morning, and the whole bug situation is very different at night. In that there are far more of them out and about. It was at the end of my run, so I was breathing in a little more deeply than I might be ordinarily and, wwhup! There it was. Definitely a bug. Some cultures may get their protein from the insect world, but it made me remember that change comes with rewards and drawbacks. I have to point out that I very rarely inhale a bug as I’m sitting in my reading chair, paging through a novel. Points awarded: reading.
Change has been on my mind a lot the last couple weeks as we’ve gotten ready for back-to-school and then, this week, tried to jump into the old routine. Except that the old routine is just that — last year’s. This year, both girls are showering in the morning, meaning a line in the mornings, with a lot of “I went first last time!” and “Mom! I need a towel!” The latter explains why we generally wash about 25 towels a week. And this year they say they want to scooter to school, rather than our usual drop-off. We haven’t done it yet, and the desire may only last til the first cold morning, but it’s more planning, more time management, and more proof that my children are growing up and that it’s happening quickly. For the first few days, though, my youngest still wanted to hold my hand until the bell rang, which eased the wistful pang that the scootering request had wrought.
Talk about change. This was Samantha’s first day of preschool. You can’t tell here, but her backpack is on upside down. Adorable:
And her first day of kindergarten. Still adorable but obviously ready for anything:
I admit I don’t have a photo of Eva’s first day of preschool. Sam started her childcare years at an in-home daycare, and then transitioned to preschool. Eva was in a more traditional setting the whole time, so she’s down a transition photo. But her first day of kindergarten photos make me want to wake her up from her current slumber and hug her. Dream big, little girl.
And now I have a 4th grader and a 2nd grader, and they want to scooter to school, after they drain all the hot water and fight about earrings. It’s amazing and it’s sad and it’s wonderful. The 12 years between 1st grade and senior year take forever while you’re living through them. But I’ve now lived in Colorado for 13 years, and I’ve been married for 10, and none of that took much time at all, in retrospect. It’s amazing and it’s sad and it’s wonderful, how time just keeps moving.
Back-to-school is a good time to take stock. It’s perhaps even more natural than the New Year. The New Year, after all, is the middle of winter and there is no light past 5pm, but there’s still a ton of holiday candy around, and as soon as you get rid of the chocolate santas, there are chocolate hearts and then jelly beans and chocolate eggs. What are we really supposed to do in January, February and March besides watch movies, make fires and eat leftover chocolate? Resolutions during this time are ludicrous, clearly.
But by August… the days aren’t quite as long as in June, but we’ve gotten into the habit of maximizing them. When the sun doesn’t set until 8:30 or 9pm, we get to cheat time a little. All summer, we say yes a little more. Yes to concerts on work nights and to one last bike ride, even in the gloaming hour. We say yes to running out specifically for a watermelon after dinner, just because a small child thinks it sounds good. Yes. Sure. Why not? It does sound good.
As school starts and we form new routines, I challenge myself to remember that there are still the same number of hours in a day at the twilight of the year as there are in the summer. Granted, children must to bed, homework must be done. But in addition to stocking up on rainbow colored folders, and the specific sized mini white board and that one new, unpaired sock as eraser, I resolve to steal some of those summer hours and sneak them into autumn. To remember that bears hibernate, not people. And if my children can embrace change in the fall, so can I. Maybe we can dispense with New Years resolutions altogether, and promise ourselves a bit of summer living no matter the month, after homework is done.