School Bus Blues
I am happy about back-to-school. Really. Kinda.
This time of year, we are all yearning to get back on a schedule, though we’ve enjoyed the long, late evenings and the lack of homework. Since I work at home so much, I look forward to the quiet in the house, where the only sound that I can hear is the ticking of the clock, or NPR in the background.
But today I have some serious school bus blues. My littlest, Svenja, had to leave her beloved school and move to another one because she has some special needs. I took her older sister to the old school and dropped her off, and then took Svenja to her new bus stop. I felt antsy and sad.
Svenja was fine. She was hiding her nerves well, and was focusing on the excitement of the bus. When she climbed on, she didn’t look back at me. She’ll be OK. It’s me I’m worried about!
Mothers tend to be more worried about the future and sentimental about the past and it doesn’t do us any good. We could learn from our kids–they really do live in the moment. The energy and optimism that comes from being present in the now rather than stuck, mentally, somewhere else is a real gift. I am going to work on that today.
September 3rd, 2008 at 5:40 pm
My kids teacher used to always tell me that the biggest gift a child can give us is helping us un-learn our propensity to worry and over-think! Once we grow up into adults we all have so many responsibilities it’s easy for us to forget that often the answer to a problem is right in front of us, and often what we learn when we look right there in front of us is that the problem is not real at all, but of our own making!
September 15th, 2008 at 10:11 am
I have to admit, when the school bus comes, I heave a huge sigh of relief. I work and organizing all the camps and day care in the summer is so stressful and makes me feel so bad — I can’t help but always regret at that moment that I am away from home so much. In the school year, I at least know they are learning and occupied just like all the other kids.