Well, the backpacks have been selected and filled with supplies, wardrobes have been updated, paradigms have shifted. Another year has fallen and a new one taken flight. The first day of the new school year is a weird mixture of excitement and fear (and that's just counting me!). Jacob is in the sixth grade . . . middle school. Really, already?
Just seems like yesterday he was reading the word "FORD" off the tailgate of a truck we followed on our way home from Mississippi. He was just three then, and now, going on twelve. Luke is nine and barreling into fourth grade. Shouldn't he still be in Mrs. Davis's first grade class? And Eli, so soon one of the "big kids" at his school (second grade), did he graduate from day school already? Oh, yes, I remember. He said of his graduation day: "I've been waiting for this day all my life!"
I have, too. Knowing these milestone days are coming don't make them any easier to take when you realize you're actually living them, when your babies are growing up like sunflowers, tall, strong, and happy. But strangely, these are not just reflective days, but exciting days. No longer so sad because of who my boys used to be, but exciting because they are growing strong and proud, and because they are steadily growing into the men God has created them to be. I'm excited for them, and for me, too. What adventures lie ahead!
On many first days of school, I have pondered and mourned the days of babyhood so swiftly ended. This year, I'm not going to lament the moments that have passed. No "Oh where have my little babies gone?". This year, I will revel in the life God has placed in our boys and in our family and seize the grace we have been given to live and love together.
Hmmm . . . I guess you don't have to go to school to learn something from it.
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