Mixed Emotions

I'm in the house alone. Well, alone all except for the dog, 2 cats, and a crayfish named "Cranky" - I haven't been alone in the house in 11 1/2 weeks. Or, if I have, I definitely don't remember when. It was a great summer. We were busy but we had time on our hands. It was really friggin' hot but we had some nice, cooling afternoon thunderstorms. I accomplished a lot but I hardly touched my to do list. We really enjoyed having Grandma and Grandpa living so close but I was sad that other aspects of family life were, well, complicated.

This morning, however, I was primarily proud and happy to send our 3 happy, enthusiastic, and only slightly nervous kids off to their first day of 7th, 4th, and 2nd grade. R was especially excited. For those of you who don't really know him, this might seem simply "nice" - for anyone who knows of his tendency to take until January to actually settle in to school in years past, this is darn close to a for reallies miracle. He's got all of his favorite kids in his class (except for one of his best friends who happens to be the identical twin brother of one of his other best friends) and he's handling the fact that his teacher is out on medical leave (he's a great teacher who has had a rough health history for the last 10 years or so - right now he's battling something that has adversely impacted his vision) incredibly well, and says he'll be fine with his substitute throughout the first quarter. We all hope Mr. G makes a full recovery and is able to get back to school and, more importantly, back to his normal life with his family. A was happy to know everyone heading in to the school year and got some of her favorite kids in her class and didn't get her two mini-nemeses from last year... funny how those things work out! (Thanks, Mrs. C - you were a great 1st grade teacher!) C was easy to get out of bed (good sign), moody (sign o the times), and annoyed when I "encouraged her" too much this morning (she's feeling pretty stressed about facing another year of middle school and the social crud that goes along with that but the last thing she wants is me going all fawny on her).

I'm ready for a day to decompress from the rush of school preparedness activities ever since we got back from vacation but I already kind of miss the little turkeys. It was pretty hard for me to relent this morning and walk R and A to the beginning of the path to school rather than the end but they're independent souls and if I want the rewards of them packing their own lunches and getting themselves ready, I have to accept that they're ready to make that last stretch on their own. Big sigh. Really big sigh.

More about our vacation soon but right now a cup of tea and a comfy chair are calling my name!