Last week Annalyn and I were at Walmart, and she was asking me about school starting. (Great questions like, “Is anyone starting school today? What about tomorrow?” and “But is every school IN AMERICA starting next week?”)

As I chuckled at her quizzing, I glanced around the paper goods aisle and made eye contact with another mom. She said, “Ahhh, I’m not ready for school to start either. I called my friend this morning and asked her if she thought we could just homeschool to keep our kids home with us! Hahaha!”

I smiled (because I’m nice, you know). But all I could think was, “You crazy, lady!” Because a) I’m pretty sure my vague smile in her direction did not imply that I’m not ready for school to start, b) I don’t think that’s how homeschooling works, and c) Really? REALLY?!?

You guys…

I am SO EXCITED that school is starting today! I’d do back flips or cheer loudly, except I AM ALL OUT OF THE ENERGY. I’m wiped out. Exhausted. DONE.

Look, I see your Facebook posts, my friends. I get it that I might be THE ONLY ONE feeling this way. You, with your, “I’m so sad for school to start.” and “I love summer! Hate for it to end!” and “I’m going to miss my kids soooooo much when school starts!”

Okay, fine. Maybe I’m the only one. But just in case I’m not…let me tell you the truth about the end of [my] summer.

I’ve been counting down the days for about three weeks now. What started out fun – extra time with my kiddo, checking things off our summer fun list, planning playdates and field trips, playing another round of UNO and remembering to feed my child a not-this-again PB&J lunch EVERY DAY – has worn.me.down.

Remember May? I do. As the school year wrapped up and the idea of summer was still young, we were so optimistic. We had plans. We had a bucket list.

Then I got pregnant.
Then we decided to sell our house.
Then I felt like running away.

Now, don’t get me wrong. We had fun this summer.

We went on a little vacation.
We saw Little Mermaid on stage.
Annalyn went to theater camp and took swim lessons.
We started a chapter book. (Junior Nancy Drew for the win!)
We ate s’mores. And watermelon. And hot dogs.

But, as I’ve mentioned, working from home while an at-least-for-now only child is also in that home IS DANG HARD. Early on, I scheduled lots of grandparent sleepovers and babysitter days for Annalyn, so I could get work and writing done – and then we could spend our time together playing and generally basking in a summer glow. Spoiler alert: Things didn’t exactly work out as planned.

And, let’s not forget, as my good friend keeps reminding me, doing ANYTHING while pregnant is also crazy hard. [I’m not sure it’s always a valid excuse, but seriously, sometimes…YEAH.]

So over the past few weeks, our summer has deteriorated into mornings spent in pajamas (FINE. Maybe the afternoons, too.) and hours upon hours of TV, interspersed with, “Are you finished yet?” and “Can we play now?” and “STOP CLIMBING ON THE COUCH!” (Yeah, that last one is from me. IN CASE YOU COULDN’T GUESS.)

*sigh* Not exactly what I imagined back in May. OR EVER.

Then again, I never imagined my daughter would react to my plan for her to play outside after lunch while I answered a few emails by standing on the front porch, pounding on the door and screaming, “Pleeeeeeease let me innnnnnnn!”

For the record, I did let her in. OF COURSE. Even though she’d begged to play outside. And it wasn’t all that hot. And she’d played outside every other day that week. So while I might have been THOROUGHLY annoyed, I let her in. Right away. Of course.

(And for the record, WE REALLY DID HAVE FUN this summer. I really didn’t spend all day, every day glued to my computer or the dishwasher or the coat closet or the Selling the House To-Do List. Not EVERY DAY.)

Obviously, I love my daughter like crazy and you guys? While I’m VERY happy to see the end of the summer, I’m still a little torn about the beginning of kindergarten.

I mean, let’s be honest. I’m sure I’ll shed a few tears this morning when we drop off Annalyn to her kindergarten class, because HELLO! I’m not a robot. This IS the beginning of the end, you know. I’m pretty much going to be helping her fill out college applications in about FOUR DAYS.

*CUE MELTDOWN in 3, 2, 1…*

AHEM.

But after I dry those tears? I am totally doing the Mommy Happy Dance!

(And then I’m going to start a load of laundry, get a little work done and enjoy my afternoon conference call in peace and quiet. Because, yeah, that’s the life of this work-at-home mom. It’s super glamorous.)

How do YOU feel about the beginning of the school year and the end of the summer?

 

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