I used to love the beginning of school. I loved shopping for supplies (even if it was difficult to find exactly what the supply lists said we needed). I loved outfitting the kids with new shoes and clothes for the school year. I loved the cooler air and the crunch of fall leaves and the excitement of new classes. Perhaps most of all, I loved the hours of time to myself to work and write and catch up on things that didn’t get done during the summer.
This year isn’t much like that. The kids already had most of the pens and pencils and notebooks and things they needed. (And the clothes–my teens aren’t growing as quickly as they were a bit ago, though that could change again, I suppose.)
We did have to get masks.
There have been a few cooler days, but fall hasn’t really set in here. This weekend is set to be in the nineties. The biggest wildfire in state history is raging in Colorado, and in a normal year, that would be a big deal.
This is not a normal year.
(Not that I need to tell anybody that.)
And, so far, school has been remote, which is hard on the kids, and certainly doesn’t provide me hours and hours of time to myself.
HOWEVER, we are all physically healthy.
And we are learning valuable things about supporting each other and learning to deal with the junk life can throw at you.
I feel like we could have done without the lesson–but maybe that’s just hubris.
Maybe we really did need time to reset, figure out what’s truly important, and be there for the people we care most about.
How are things in your part of the world?