I doubt any future “start of school” adventure we have will ever be able to top this year’s craziness. Just sayin’.
Kindergarten is our first adventure of its kind. We’ve never done preschool. My kids haven’t had a church nursery for over a year. We have done life together, up close and personal. And now, suddenly, my two Bigs are heading off into a brand-new thing.
I was/am so excited for them. Seriously. I sat in the parents’ orientation meeting, looking around the classroom and just knowing how much they will love it. Of course, I’m also aware of how exhausted they’re going to be for a while, going from nothing to all-day-every-day Kindergarten, but it is just what they need. My tears were happy tears. They are ready, and I’m so proud of the little people I get to send to Mrs. Cullins’s class.
So on Friday, we went in to meet the teacher, drop off our school supplies, and do a quick assessment to see where they are. And, yeah, they’re totally ready for Kindergarten. Alex is probably going to have a speech IEP for a while, but as far as knowledge goes – they are there. No big surprise. We are ready.
Then the weekend crazy hit. MOPS retreat on Friday night and the first half of Saturday. Eric watching kiddos. Writing like a mad woman any spare second I can get. Stayed up too late for a couple of nights. Trying to enjoy my kids and not put them off on this last weekend before school. Eric needing to get outside work done. More writing. Trying to get to the paperwork in the twins’ school folder – read it all, sign stuff, put it back in the right place in the folder.
(Side note: the twins each had a get-to-know-me paper for us to fill out. I did one for Megan at the same time. Erin’s favorite activity: shopping. What makes Alex happy: getting a new video game. What makes Megan sad: being left behind. Poor kid.)
Anyway, Saturday turned to Sunday. My in-laws left on vacation right after church. Eric went out to lunch with his brothers while I did lunch with the kids, then they rested/napped while I wrote some more. The guys came back, worked on the house, and then Alan headed back to do feeding. Just after 6, Eric headed over with the big 3 in the tractor. They were going to help Alan unload hay. I was going to have some space to write until it was time to throw a supper on the table. Great!
Just before 6:30, I saw a car come into the driveway. The twins came running down the hill to the door, hollering, “Megan fell down and Daddy thinks she broke her arm!” Um…what?!? He carried her down, she cradling her left arm against her belly. I felt it briefly. Yep. Broken.
So, I took Megan to the ER while Eric stayed with the kids. We got home about midnight (the events of our trip in will have to be a second post) and got to bed about 1:00 am.
At 7:00 am, Alex tumbled into our bed, ready for the day. Erin wasn’t far behind. We got ready for school. I made lunches and filled out all the details and paperwork that should’ve been done the night before. We were making good time. We walked up the hill…and waited for just a few minutes when our neighbor at the top of the hill stuck his head out the door. “The bus has already gone by,” he said. “What?!? When?” “About 10 minutes ago.”
Great. So we missed the bus on the first day of school. Thankfully, we had plenty of time to get there. Back down the hill we went and got into the van. I drove us up to school (there’s a bridge out causing all sorts of issues, but that’s a rant for another day), and got there just at the perfect time. I let the kids out and walked them to the corner of the building so they could see where the other kids were going in. They headed that way, and I hopped back in the van to get out of the way for other parents. I stopped briefly to chat with another mom, when we were interrupted.
Other mom: What? Does she need your mom? (Alex’s voice in the background.) Okay. (to me) I think Erin is crying.
Great. So I park and jog over. She is standing on the sidewalk, big tears on her face. The one who has been SO excited for school was suddenly struck by the magnitude of what she was about to do, and she got scared. I gave her a hug, and she cried on my shoulder (and this is where my tears started, too).
“Do you need me to walk in with you?” She nodded yes, so we joined the mass influx of children and I got them to the hallway. Alex walked right down, never looked back. Erin started down, and another lady who was standing there came to her to make sure she got to her room. I’m sure it took her all of 8 minutes to be excited again once inside the classroom, but for those few moments, it was just too much.
And it was a bit much for me, too. A broken arm, the ER, not enough sleep, my twins off to Kindergarten, the stress and drama just came crashing down. I’m sure everyone thought I was one of those moms who just boo-hoos because she can’t bear to let her kids go. Nope. But there’s only so much one can handle and my Erin-girl’s tears put me over the edge.
Anyway, I got home finally and Eric had turned on Frozen for Megan. I told him about Erin’s tears. He told me Megan had made him read her The Giving Tree (which we can barely get through on a good day!). There was a minute or two of sadness, and then back to the rush.
Eric hung with the littles while I got Meg’s prescription filled and went to the grocery. I scheduled the appointment for her to get her cast. I called the school to find out when I might expect their bus to show (it was 20 minutes late). I kept on writing furiously when I could while Eric worked outside some more. The kids got home, and we finally made it to the end of the first day of Kindergarten. Praise Jesus.
It was not the start I was planning for. But it was an adventure…that’s for sure. And hard as it was, God was working and helping and making a way. But hopefully, the rest of the year will be much less crazy!
