The pictures are a little fuzzy but I still loved looking at them this morning. I think I could have slept until noon today, but the sun was out early and there’s a promise that it IS going to warm up again. It’s the last 48 hours of the school year so I really just need to slog through it. We’ve filled a few stages lately, sung and acted and played and marched until we were done. We’re down to the cleanouts, the goodbyes, the brown bag lunches, and all the extra cookies and ice cream. May can get so exhausting and so demanding, even when we plan ahead and try to stay ahead of the game. But then we sit for a spell, and watch her fingers move across her strings (correctly! we were watching!) and then she catches our eyes as she bows and smiles, and all is good in the world.
A few weeks ago M and I found a card with a thumbs up sign on it that says “Nailed It” on the front. We bought it for E, and we’ll slip it into her lunchbox tomorrow. The projects are done, the grades are in, her locker is empty, the contents spilled across the coffee table in the living room and onto the floor. It wasn’t always easy, but she did it. She did it well.
We’ve all had to up our game a bit this year. I reread what I wrote at the start of this school year, and it reminded me again of what an enormous transition last year was. The year before was difficult in many different ways, and I’m so grateful now that we were able to reside in places that were small and familiar and supportive and comforting. And then this year came, and we were ready to stretch a little more, and stretch we did.
We had to trust that the oldest one could leave a tiny nest and navigate a larger, more complicated one. She is more capable and lovely than we even deserve.
We had to trust that the little one was ready for school as well – that she could move into a new schedule with new friends and be the youngest again, for awhile. She is more daring and brighter than we even deserve.
We had to trust that we could balance the hectic nature of two jobs and two schools, and still find time to bring our ‘A’ game to as many things as possible while being okay with our ‘B’ game when necessary. This partnership is deeper and stronger and more balanced than we even deserve.
Feeling grateful this morning for the sunshine and the promise of summer and this beautiful team of mine.
That picture with the cuties playing violin is about the cutest. So much concentration! I am always amazed when my kids transition to a new school that they are more ready than I realize. Oldest is off to college this fall, and I keep reminding myself of this!
Oh, college! That’s a big deal. Close by or far away?
Not too far – she is headed to University of Virginia and we are about an hour away in Richmond. I imagine it is going to feel very far away in August!
Oh – one my closest friends graduated from there! Congrats to her on her high school graduation. I hope you have a wonderful summer. I’m going to pretend like this is not on my horizon in another five years!
beautiful indeed.
Your gratitude for your family is beautiful.
And itty bitty violinists?! Swoon.
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