almost there....

The first day of school is almost upon us. I don't honestly know whether to say hallelujah or darn. My youngest starts kindergarten, the oldest her senior year of high school. The youngest is really excited, but she thinks it is patently unfair that I could have a day off work, yet she would have to go to school. Ah, the difference between state-mandated education and a private day care.

I think my oldest son is glad to go back to school---besides seeing his friends, he may as well have been in school over the summer with all the summer honors reading/journalling, etc. he had to do. I kept telling him, that's ok, next summer his brother will join him in the summer reading, etc.

The oldest girl says she is not looking forward to going back--her boyfriend has graduated and is now full time into the world of union work, and a lot of her friends graduated. She'd rather just skip the whole year, escpecially as a lot of people around her have told her that she and those friends may grow apart, even her boyfriend and her may grow apart, as they move on with their lives. She thinks it sucks and that what "they" say will never happen, but I told her that life happens. Sometimes people grow apart; different experiences and goals can do that. I have not a single friend left from high school, a couple from college, and one from my first post college job. I never had a huge circle of friends anyway--3-4 really close friends was usually about the norm. But these friends and I have matured over the years and learned to accept and rejoice over the differences in our lives. We also live hundreds of miles apart, as jobs and families have separated us, so any time we have personal, not just email, contact is just awesome. And we talk and carry on just like we were never apart.

I also have one pretty good friend next door to me---we mother each other's kids and laugh and talk and generally amuse ourselves by trading kid/people stories. We both people watch, and our observations are hilarious--to us anyway. Our husbands get along great and our kids are practically inseparable at times. We also have each other's backs. We know we can depend upon each other to check on our houses and kids if we are not there. We also know that we can depend upon each other for moral support, whether it be over kids, spouses, ex's, whatever. We are there to listen and isn't that what being a friend is all about anyway?