Back to School

My last weekend of summer was spent moving.  In fact, the weekend before was spent moving my son to Milwaukee, to be followed by an entire week of moving the rest of our household and belongings. Needless to say, it was not exactly the end of summer celebration that I may have had in years past.  But we accomplished a lot.  Thanks to the help of family and friends, we had help lifting heavy things,  furniture in a box was put together, dishes put away and pictures hung on the walls.  Which brings us to today, the first day of school, not only for my daughter who is in 7th grade, but my son who starts college classes at MSOE today.  This morning I only had one child at home getting ready for school (her brother who will soon leave for the Air Force was still sleeping and the other getting himself ready in a city a few hours away),  only one child to drop off.  As a mother of twins, this was the first time in 13 years that I only had ONE child to prepare for the first day.  My daughter Rachel is an old soul who is not only easily adaptable to change (The move was a breeze for her. She had her room set up within ten minutes of her furniture arriving), but is very independent.  For a child who I used to call the little tornado or Messy Martha due to her mess of crafting creations scattered all over her room,  I am impressed.  She has suddenly become this little adult who has it all together, much more than her mommy does.  This morning was a breeze compared to years past, but bittersweet realizing even my youngest child is a fully self sufficient mini adult at the age of 12! 

Tonight I have my own first day of a class called Legal Aspects of Business Organization, so I will miss picking her up from school.  She will walk home on her own, get into the house with her own keys, and likely have all of the papers organized that I am required to sign by the time I get home at 8pm tonight.  So much has changed over the past few months, and I have had many tears about missing what once was.  But today I am not only ready to get into a new routine myself, but begin a new chapter of my life, which is hopefully as good as the last one.

Happy day after Labor Day!