Friday, August 28, 2015

'Twas The Weekend Before School

It is the last weekend before the start of school. Luckily, it is a very busy weekend so I am able to keep my mind off the impending event. However, I know come Sunday night my preoccupied brain will keep me awake until the wee hours of the morning, just like in years past. But, this year seems especially rough. After 13 years of little ones by my side this is the first year all of my kids will be gone all day long. I am not a fan. Dislike. No me gusta.

All of the school supplies have been dropped off at school. Lockers were organized. Paperwork has been completed. We met new teachers. We explored new classrooms. All that's left now is the crying. Me. Not them.

Yes, I know all of the benefits of having the kids in school. I myself have gritted my teeth through a good portion of the summer as the kids drove me crazy. Sure, I will have time to pursue interests and get things done I have been meaning to do for years. Heck, I finally have time to focus on me. I can finally get into some hardcore training. I've always wanted to be the next American Ninja Warrior. Or maybe I'll try out to be on an Olympics team. Or not. Whatever.

Anyway, I know the benefits. I just don't care.

This is an end of an era. A closing of a door. The next chapter. The ending of all the little kid stuff and the beginning of all the big kid stuff.  Not that I won't love the big kid stuff. I know I will. I just will always miss having little kids. *sigh*

I'm sad about it.

*Ahem*

As I said, it is a good thing I don't have much time to think about it this weekend.  (eyeroll)

It is NOT a good thing that I am currently reading a book called The Goodbye Quilt. It is a story of a mother who is preparing to send her daughter off to college. She is desperately trying to finish a quilt she is making for her daughter as they set out on a road trip cross country to drop the daughter off at school for the first time. I repeat, it is NOT a good book for me to be reading right now.
However, Susan Wiggs has quickly become a favorite author of mine and I can't seem to put the dang book down! Ever since Bijoux recommended The Apple Orchard and The Beekeeper's Ball to me (which I then read and now also recommend- thank you for the awesome recommendation, Bijoux!) I have really become a fan of Wiggs.

I also just finished Carry Me Home by Sandra Kring. The author is a wonderful WI writer I just discovered when a friend of mine was talking about her mother's book on Facebook. And I had no idea her mother was even a writer! I'm so glad I read it. It was Kring's first novel and it was beautiful. It is one of those books that you finish in a day or two because you can't put it down. It will stay with me for a while.

Perhaps I should put aside these touching family stories for now and read a comedy or something. These fantastic books are definitely not helping my heartsickness.

Cripes! I wasn't even going to write about school starting again.

I need to think about something else.

Quick! Tell me a funny story! Recommend a funny book!

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

For LOL funny you need to read Paul Feig's memoir Superstud. It's awful, but funny. He's the guy who wrote the screenplay for Spy.
Good luck! You'll get through this!

Mom24 said...

(((hugs))) I get it.

Ack! No funny stories and I've been really lots of veeery emotional books too. Hmm. I haven't read it but I've heard good things about "It's Kind of a Funny Story". I did like Maybe in Another Life. It was different. Pure fun I liked The Royal We even though I didn't think I would. Think William and Kate fan fic, but against the odds it works.

Have a wonderful weekend. Tonight's our first football game, Jacob's first time marching in the marching band and his first time staying out until midnight at the after-game party for the band. *gulp*

betty said...

Both books sound interesting, will have to look for them :) It is hard when one door closes in rearing children; the doors left to be open are great ones, but it does take time to adjust to them. I remember all the yard sales we had and we would sell things the kids outgrew or no longer played with. I was glad to get rid of the stuff, but I knew a long with it, I was also getting rid of that part of their childhood.


betty

Bijoux said...

Oh, I'm so glad you enjoyed those two books I recommended! However, I had to stop reading the quilt book as it was just too sad for me.

Nothing makes me laugh like a David Sedaris book, but it's dark humor and not for everyone.

Unknown said...

It's a bittersweet time, school starting. I miss the days when my kiddos were little and I had to take them everyday. But, I do love the days now where they are independent (well, sort of) and we can have big kid fun together. Just try to see the blessings right where you are. They are there. Always!

Kat said...

Verna- I know you are completely right. And I do enjoy my big kids SO much. It is just the saying goodbye to a part of my life that was so golden. I've never been good at saying goodbye.

Tabor said...

Yes, having children is a series of goodbyes. You WILL survive it. It will be painful for a short time, but you will find other ways to make your days busy and rich. It happened to me, so I know. It is hard to adjust as we are creatures of habit. Just keep telling yourself how normal you all are.

Kat said...

Tabor- Thank you. Good advice. I just keep thinking of what my mom's friend once told her. "Life is just one big goodbye." Sometimes it feels that way.

Kat said...

Bijoux- The quilt book is sad but I'm glad I read it. It actually turned out to be pretty comforting. Maybe you should try picking it up again. And thanks for the great recommendation. I really love Wiggs now. :)

Words To Live By

Be grateful for each new day.
A new day that you have never lived before.
Twenty-four new, fresh, unexplored hours to use usefully and profitably.
We can squander, neglect, or use them.
Life will be richer or poorer by the way we use today.
Finish every day and be done with it.
You have done what you could;
some blunders and absurdities crept in;
forget them as soon as you can.
Tomorrow is a new day.
You shall begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be
encumbered with your old nonsense.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson