New Beginnings

We made it through the hectic and exciting morning of the first day of school! My husband took my oldest daughter to start her first day of Middle School at 7:30 a.m. this morning. She was worried about whether her dad would park and walk in with her - she didn't want to be just dropped off - then when she got there she zoomed right off, she was so excited. A teacher standing at the entrance passing out pencils said to her "Aren't you going to say good bye to your dad?" as she started to rush past him into the school. Hopefully she found the room for her first class without incident - I'm sure she did! Her 7:30 a.m. start time seems way too early in the morning, but that is the price she (and we) pay for her involvement in the band program. I'm just glad they have a daily band program, and one semester of an early class this year is an OK trade-off.

Then we took our younger daughter to her first day of 2nd grade and spent some time chatting and catching up with other parents at the principal's Coffee Chat. I'm already knee-deep in volunteer work, trying to recruit parents for the volunteer art program that I help to run at the school. I've actually spent many hours in the last few days trying to finish up responsibilities from last year's commitments, getting ready to pass those off to another friend who is doing that job this year. Last night I stayed up late getting some paperwork ready for this morning, then I couldn't get to sleep I was so wound up! The alarm came very early at 6:00 a.m. this morning after only a couple of hours of sleep.

Our summer slipped by very quickly this year, and I wouldn't have minded some more time home with the girls before school began. But here we are anyway, and it is so exciting to be starting a new school year. I love this time of new beginnings, where the potential for good things to happen seems so bright and clear. My husband is out of the house doing some of his community volunteer work right now, and I am sitting quietly with only the sound of the keys tapping on my laptop and the clicking of the cuckoo clock echoing in the room. It is a beautiful feeling.