MIDDLE SCHOOL? When did this happen?
It seems like yesterday that we moved into our house and registered Jack for kindergarten. Now the hydrangeas that were newly planted have tripled in size and my kids are suddenly twelve and eight. I no longer have to chase them when we go to the pool. They dress themselves, make their own breakfast, walk to school together without me. How did this happen?
Life creeps up on you. It's strange - sometimes it seems to go so slowly and at other times it's going at such a high rate of speed that I want to scream "SLOW DOWN!"
School is ending in a little over a week. This is the last year that the kids will be in the same school together - EVER. I knew this day would come but it always seemed so far away. This year I started letting them walk to the end of the street to meet their friends for the walk to school. Every morning I send them out the door with the usual "I love you" and attempted kisses. Sometimes they let me kiss them but usually they laugh and wave me off. The gradual separation is already starting.
I've taken to running up to Jack's bedroom so that I can watch them walking down the street together - Jack with his lanky, relaxed way of walking and Ella with her high ponytail swinging. They usually seem to be laughing and talking together. I wonder what they're talking about. They have no idea how special and fleeting this time is. Next year Jack will be leaving for school an hour earlier than Ella. Their days of walking to school together will end in less than two weeks.
Every time I get sad about something ending I have to remind myself of what's beginning. Jack will start a whole new chapter in a new school with a schedule to follow and a locker to keep his stuff in. He's moving on - leaving the little kid behind and stepping up in the chain of events that will lead to his teenage years and beyond. It's hard to think about but it's part of the cycle of life.
Jack and I had a conversation the other day about how things change. Isn't it strange, we wondered, how life is always changing but you don't feel like it's changing until you look back and realize how different things are now than they were four, five, six years ago.
Everything ends, but everything also begins. I like to focus on the beginnings.
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| Jack and Ella when we first moved to our house in 2006 |
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| Jack and Ella now :) |
1 comment:
It is so bitter sweet. I get panicky when I think about all the changes coming next year and beyond. Sometimes I wish I can freeze time, but I know that's selfish of me. They want to move on and grow up and experience new things. It's just not always easy on us:(
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