Kids do grow up too fast — and something needs to be done about it. It’s stressful. It’s sad. And it’s just downright jarring to my sensibilities to walk into a room to see kids grow long legs and mature faces practically overnight. OK… maybe it was three years, or five years — but it doesn’t feel like years. It seems like moments. And its unsettling. It’s frightening. Not enough time to enjoy them at each stage they’re in — because they keep moving up. I don’t think the kids like it either. They are just as bewildered as me.
They day went like this:
- 7:00 Breakfast…get boys ready for school
- 7:30 start washer to wash clothes the kids said were clean that they will need for day’s ceremonies.
- 9:30 Drop dead time. You must be in the car with two boys for dental appointments by 9:40.
- 9:31. You just came out of the shower.
- 9:50 arrive at dentist.
- 10:45 Go back to dentist because you left your purse there.
- 11:00 Drop one child off at second grade classroom.
- 11:05 Feed Kindergartner.
- 11:10 Remember to put clothes in dryer.
- 11:20 Wash kindergartner’s clean shirt that is now covered with sparkly silly putty.
- 12:00 Get kindergartner to school, hang around for graduation to start.
- 12:05 Remember that you did not bring 5th graders clothes for graduation.
- 12:30 Watch kindergartner graduate.
- 1:35 Line up outside for 5th grade clap-through.
- 1:55-2:10 Fifth grade ceremony in gym
- 2:10-2:50 Reception in gym — text friend to take fifth grader to party.
- 2:45 Remember I also have a 2nd grader that needs to be brought home too.
- 3:30-5:00 Post- party at Westover Park
- 3:15 Argue with 8th grader about arrival time.
- 3:30 Arrive at middle school to find seat.
- 4:00 Watch 8th graders graduate.
- 4:30 Realize that this entire day, while joyful, is a very sad day. Things are just moving too fast for my taste.
- 6:00 Run 5th grader to soccer try-outs (Which were cancelled because the fields were wet.)
- 6:00 Run home for interview for story I’m writing. (He forgot to call.)
Boom, Boom, Boom
I so feel this, Susie!
The first part of this, I am REALLY feeling right now. My 18 year old daughter has just “left” home to move into an apartment 60 miles from me, and I have been so emotionally ” a mess”! Happy, proud and broken hearted at the same time… It seems like she was just born… I feel what you are saying! The second part, you must feel like you are on a super fast merry-go-round like I always do! I sometimes think that if I wrote down what I do in a day, everyone would think I made it up. It is crazy what just “life” entails now… I love your blog, it makes me smile with the familiarity of it all…
You’re growing those boys beautifully.
Oh Lordy. Chris over at notesfromthetrenches had a similar post today…in a way. This time of year just brings out the bittersweetness of it all, I suppose. Sigh.