Good Morning! Gosh, I am so NOT excited about school starting. I know I must be the only woman out there who is not! But you see, I love summer. I love the slowness, the lazy days, the sitting out on the porch just looking at the trees--and the unscheduled days. The school year brings with it necessary scheduling, deadlines, and of course, the dreaded homework. I have four kids, one in college (GO NAVY), one in high school, one in middle school and one in elementary school. Wow--what are the odds of that! We start this coming Friday. Of course, they don't want to go, except maybe for the one at USNA; she always LOVED the beginning of the school year. Yeah, she was one of those kids who really got into all the new stuff--organization is her middle name. I keep hoping that if I don't mention it, they will see the start of a new year as fun---yeah right. Everytime I drop the "s" bomb (school), my youngest starts to well up, my middle schooler pretends she doesn't hear me and my high schooler informs me that "I'm going to play some golf Mom". So to all you other moms out there who, like me, are NOT looking forward to an entire weekend of contact papering soft cover workbooks and covering hard back books, of writing your child's name on EVERY possession they own, of having to be the cheerful one "won't it be good to see your friends again?!", of once again buying all those lunch fixings for home, having to brush up on whatever history they are doing now, and most of all, getting them up in the morning and ready to go--then join me in a communal sigh of sadness at the passing of another summer. And, though not to get too maudlin, the passing of another year in our kids' lives. I know the year officially ends Dec. 31st, but to me, the school year has always been a better marker. I have a bin for each of my children and in that bin are folders marked "Pre-School", "Kindergarten", etc. all the way up through 12th grade. The school year provides an easy reference point to me and I am sure to so many others. Ask me what my daughter was doing in 1994? No idea. What was she doing in Kindergarten? Well, then it all comes flooding back, right?! So let's all try to keep a stiff upper lip and enjoy this beautiful week!