School Daze

At our house, we are excitedly gearing up for the start of school.

Actually, I made that part up.  We're totally not excited at all.  In reality, we are limping along, still stuck in lazy summer mode.  We are greeting these weeks of back-to-school preparation with plenty of kicking and screaming.  No one is ready to get up early, deal with homework, and pack lunches.  And by "no one," I mean me.  

It feels as if we'd finally skidded across the finish-line to summer vacation and now, here we are, preparing to start all of that school busy-ness all over again.  I feel weary just thinking about it.

I remember when the kids were small.  To put it nicely, they drove me nuts.  Three weeks into summer vacation, I was ready to ship them off to the circus.  Their constant desire for entertainment was exhausting.  I remember thinking, can't they just go outside and play for two and a half months like we did when we were kids?

I'm always amazed at how quickly small children become bored.  Even with a room full of toys, pets, TV, books, bikes, and games, they still lament that there's nothing to do.  Now that they're older, my kids know better than to use the b-word around me.  If they forget, I'm quick to remind them that I haven't been bored since 1982.  I am SO not exaggerating either. 

Jobs, bills, laundry, cooking, cleaning, chauffeuring, food shopping, and yard work - if kids knew what was waiting for them once they grow up, they'd never utter the b-word during summer vacation again. 

That's why, after an entire summer of hearing their complaints that there wasn't anything to do, I couldn't wait for school to begin.  I back-to-school shopped like it was my job.  I nagged about summer reading logs.  I kept track of the days left until school on my calendar.  And when that magical day arrived?  I was more than happy to put them on the school bus and have the house to myself again.

These days?  Meh.  The end of summer feels completely different now that my kids are older.  Most noticeably, they're able to entertain themselves and don't require much from me.  No one needs me to make their lunch, change the TV channel, get out the sprinkler, or read them a story.  Two of them no longer need me to drive them anywhere. 

When we do spend time together, it's easy and relaxed.  We talk and joke and laugh.  We build camp fires and talk about internet memes.  We share movies and music and dreams.  In other words, we enjoy just being with one another. 

No way am I ready for this to end.

I know that we'll get ourselves together and be ready for school when the time comes.  For now, though, there's still some summer left.  These kids won't be kids forever, you know.