The End of Summer

Tomorrow will be the kid’s last day of summer. I have mixed emotions about this. We had many fun adventures over the last three months. However, it will be nice to have a schedule and quieter days.

Andrew will be in 8th grade this year. I am apprehensive about high school. He has gone to a very small private school since the 2nd grade. This year there will be only 4 students in his class. I’m worried that he will not fit into a large public school. I had the opposite problem as a kid. Freshmen year I attended a small catholic high school from a public school. I didn’t know a single person other than my sister. All the other kids went to the same elementary schools. I remember feeling incredibly lonely and out of place. I don’t want that for Andrew. My solution is swim team. On Tuesday he will start swimming at the high school he is attending. My hope is that he makes friends. We shall see.

Jake will be a 6th grader. He will have the same teacher again this year. There are five boys and five girls in his class. Things will be evenly matched. For two whole years he was the lone boy in his classroom. I am happy that he has other boys to hang with. He and Andrew will be in the same math class because Jake is a math whiz kid. I was worried they would be competitive and bicker but over the summer they worked together on the same math packet. They got along so well that it was border line annoying.

Amelia is going into the second grade. She told me today that she absolutely cannot wait until her first day of school because, “I love my teacher and learning and all my friends,” She is such a mini Aaron in every way possible. Friday night I took her to get new shoes. She picked out pink Nikes. I am a bit of a control freak about what they wear. It took all my self-control to allow this choice. I had hoped for something a little bit more unique. She is a practical girl and insisted that they
would help her run faster.

While the kids are at school I will write. I am looking forward to days of writing. Nothing makes me happier. The only drawback to this writing gig is that it can be so lonely. It’s not like I have an office to go to where I interact with people on a daily basis. I am usually alone. Part of me loves it. There have been many recent nights where I have gone out alone to take photos and have thoroughly enjoyed myself. However, there is another part of me that aches for human interaction. I think that is why I have fallen so completely in love with the interview process. Recently I have found myself over interviewing because I love the process so much. As a result my articles have become longer and longer. My next cover story is 6,300 words compared to my usual 3,800.