Holding On and Letting Go, Part One

This has been such a great summer.  We’ve travelled, slept in, spent a lot of time at the beach and watching movies.  I’ve enjoyed it so much.

Maybe I partially cherished it just a little extra because I knew today was coming.  The day when all the babies would finally get super fun to hang around.  They sleep at night and like the same shows as I do.  And just when they get super wonderful, semi-helpful and downright fabulous to be around, they have to go to school.

This year for the first time, all of the kids in our house went to school.  I’ve been telling people all year that I’m fine and ready to move on to the next stage, which I am.  Totally I am more than ready.  But this weekend that nagging feeling kept creeping up on me. 

I’m ready to move on, but it’s just so hard letting go.  Just like when you learn to do the monkey bars and you have to let go to grab on to the next one.  It’s a little scary.  I would rather just hang on the bar I already had a good grip on.  I was happy and comfortable there. 

(Google Images)

So it seem that being ready to move on, implies the fact that we must let go.  Today I got up at 6:00 a.m.  What a horrible time to wake up.  I was liking the 8 or 8:30 we got up to in the summer.  We got everyone fed, dressed and ready to roll.

Maren was so excited for kindergarten.

She did her own hair.  I’ve trained her to be independent like that.

They all came out for the obligatory picture.

And then they were gone.  After 13 years of wondering if I would ever get a moments peace or get to go to the bathroom by myself, the house was quiet.  I have to say quiet wasn’t so bad.  It was actually kind of nice.

Then I played for a while.  I caught up with a friend.  I ate a lot of pizza here.

And I walked to my favorite candy shop for dessert.

I got home in time to see happy faces get off the bus and bike back down the driveway.

That’s right, my kindergartner can ride a two wheeler.

Even though letting go can be hard, it seems that life is pretty good on the next monkey bar too.  If I never let go, I’ll never get to grab onto the next ones!  And that would be a crying shame.