Places Everyone

So I know I may jinx myself by saying this, but this morning, the first day of school, went off without a hitch. Sam was up on time and at the bus stop by 7:10. Granted, he did get on the wrong bus the first time but he quickly de-bussed and boarded the right one.

While we were at the bus stop Jake got up and ate his breakfast, and he and I left early so we could park and walk in together. Except his idea of "walk in together" means leaving me on the curb while waving me off and whispering, "You can go now."


And just like that, summer is over. It doesn't even seem like we had a summer really. But now that we are back in school I have a few School Year Resolutions I need to get working on:

1. Eat better: We ate out a lot over the summer. And it seemed like everywhere we ate had milkshakes. If a never see a milkshake again, it will be too soon.

2. Get up earlier: This time last year I was in the middle of an exercise boom. I don't know if it was this summer's heat or the fact that I can never stay in an exercise routine for more than a few months, but this was not the summer of exercise. It was the summer of sleep. Alas, the summer of sleep is over.

3. Get moving: Although I'd like to say my summer clothes don't fit because they shrank in the laundry, I think the combination of the aforementioned milkshakes and lack of exercise is really to blame.

4. Clean up: Since the kids were around more than usual this summer I decided it wasn't worth it to tidy up because it was just going to get messy again. Sure, laundry was done (I didn't say put away), floors were swept, garbage dumped. But today the cleaning crusade begins. With any luck I'll finish before next summer.

So while I think the kids had a good summer and I'm glad to get everyone back in a routine, the end of summer is always a little bittersweet. Summer's the perfect metaphor for childhood - carefree, spontaneous, a little messy, and over a little too soon.