Dragged, Kicking and Screaming . . . . And Crying

Well, the return to our school-year routine was official yesterday. Sorta. Shaggy got himself up and showered and dressed and out the door by 7:25 and The Boss and I worked on motivating Dr. Doolittle and LadyBug into their school day routine as gently as we possibly could. The bus stop is at the end of our driveway, so after we indulged in the yearly photo shoot The Boss went in with Baby Blue Eyes to console each other and I stood at the end of the drive to cry with a neighbor from across the cul-de-sac. (An aside: Her youngest boys (twins) had their first day of all-day 1st grade today, so she's facing an empty house all day for the first time in 13 years. I can't go there - maybe I'll just keep adopting until I'm too senile to recognize that I'm faced with an empty house! I'll be the crazy kid lady in the neighborhood!)

The routine from there was not normal, yet: The Boss worked from home all day. He chose to do that to see the kids off (normally he's on the train by 7:20 a.m. and misses the morning routine completely) and to provide BBE and I with the emotional support we needed when sending all our playmates off for the day! ;) So we hung around the house together, I did my Tuesday morning weigh-in, and The Boss mowed the lawn on his "lunch break." It was way too quiet and peaceful here for my liking. BBE rode bikes with Neighbor Girl for a while and even that wasn't normal: she starts her first day of afternoon kindergarten today, so her availability will be limited now. And later, Li'l Sis and Redheaded Niece came to swim. That might be a bit of a new norm, as she's feeling the need to schedule some time out & about after 2 years of homeschooling all the kids and now only has Redhead to hang out with.

BBE and I will be starting his homeschooling next week, hopefully by Monday. I'm thinking of saving it till the afternoons, so he and Neighbor Girl can maximize their play times. That would also leave our mornings for errands, the library, the grocery store and laundry duty. MMMMM, doesn't that all sound delightful! Ick.

And so I go, dragged into the familiar (and yes, I admit, slightly comforting) school year routine. But I went kicking and screaming in my heart, and crying at the end of the driveway. But not where Dr. D and LadyB could see me - a Mom must be mindful of preserving her 6th grader's coolness factor in front of the friends, even in her agonizing heartbreak!

P.S. Shaggy is not pictured here because: #1 - he's out the door waaaaaaay too early for me to coherently figure out how to take a picture and, #2 - he's "so past that" at his 13-year old cool self!