Blue Jeans & Jelly Beans
I'm not the one going back to school today, but my three children are. So it's time to switch gears.
Goodbye to summer. Goodbye to sleeping past 7 a.m. and slow minutes of snuggling under the covers with one or another of my kids, deciding what to do that day. Goodbye to lackadaisical meals, unplanned and sometimes skipped altogether. Goodbye to long afternoons at Eagle Pool. Goodbye to days with nothing whatsoever on the calendar.
Here begin the days when I have to check my calendar every night before I go to bed to make sure I don't forget anything I'm supposed to do the next day.
First comes that hour when everything has to happen like clockwork: dressing, eating breakfast, packing kids' lunches, and practicing music for the older two. Then come my own morning duties: exercise, shower, dress, interview and write. Actually, the writing I do is far more than work. It's a satisfying creative outlet, so I'm glad to spend time on it.
But housekeeping chores and errands also need to be done, and done quickly, before pickup time at 2:30 p.m. I also need to squeeze in time to do volunteer jobs, both in the classroom and at home.
After the kids come home from school, my life is dictated by their activities: music lessons, Boy and Girl scouts and soccer. I cook dinner and supervise homework in the spaces in between. Then, in the evening, I uphold the rituals of dinner, baths, teeth and jammies, crowned by the best of all, reading stories. I love to get into my jammies, just like the kids, for that part. It makes it easier to go straight to bed myself once they're tucked in. This is a vital part of my strategy, because I need all the sleep I can get to keep up the pace.
I'll stay shifted into high gear until next June.
But my days won't be all busy. For the first time, all my kids will be in school for a full six hours. I have been looking forward to this year for a long time.
In fact, I remember being pregnant with the youngest, seven years ago, and charting out what all three would be doing each successive year. The last column of my chart was this year, when the youngest would enter first grade. I remember looking at that column in awe, unable to believe there would ever come a day when I wasn't changing diapers and chasing toddlers every waking minute.
So I am fully prepared to take advantage of finally having some unscheduled time. I plan to take French conversation one day a week this year and refresh the French I took in high school. I tell myself it's in case we take the kids to Europe sometime. But fundamentally it's because I want to stretch my brain a little.
I'm dreaming of visits to the library, of browsing, selecting, and curling up to read books right there. I'll bring my journal along and write without a deadline.
I'm mulling over the 11:30 a.m. movies out at Century Cinemas on Shoreline. They get out in time for me to get back home before the kids do. I bet I could fit one in every week or two.
So we're all changing back into school year mode. I'll still be living by the calendar. I'll still be putting mega-miles on the minivan after school. But I'll be having those free hours here and there. And I'll be loving it.
I don't mind switching gears a bit.
Passarelli is the proud mother of three elemtary-school children and no more preschoolers.