This seems to be the year for "the last time" experience.Because my youngest child is a senior, this is the last time I will be part of a tennis season--the last time I will help with a tennis banquet, drive a child to the courts, wash uniforms, sit nervously during a match, chat with other parents between the courts.
Because my youngest child is a senior, this is the last time I will be part of a marching band season and concert band, too--the last time I will attend a band picnic, volunteer at a band show, design the season's T-shirt, typeset the concert programs, attend concerts as a parent of someone on stage, pick up uniforms at the dry cleaners, shuttle a child to and from practices.
Because my youngest child is a senior, this is the last time I will drive someone to school in the morning and pick them up in the afternoon. This is the last time I will have a child in my house for the school year. This is the last time I will have to nag in the morning because a child has ignored her alarm clack. This is the last time I will wash a child's laundry on a regular basis.
For seven years, this band/tennis/high school schedule has dictated my life, but this is the last time, and I don't know how to live any other way. I have forgotten what it's like not to have a child in high school. When your kids are small, and you wonder at how much they need you, and someone with more parenting experience tells you they'll need you more when they are teenagers, you should believe them. It may seem impossible at the time, but it's true.
So, this is the last time, and I can't even think about how time flies without having to wipe away a few tears.
Comments
And then take a deep breath and launch into your new life; your new freedom.
It may be scary but it's all yours. Try out the line "and she lived happily ever after."
Enjoy 'this last time' and think about the time you'll have to knit & practise horn!
Peahen, I do like knitting and playing my horn. More time for those things then.
Prudence, I know that tired feeling. Ever heard the phrase "I'm not tired. I'm tired of it"? That applies here sometimes.
Rich, I'll still do a lot of those things, I'm sure, but never again as the mother of a teenager.
Over here, we are battling about Junior Kindergarten and having to go everyday and being told what to do instead of doing his own thing. Oy.
PF