I’m sitting outside. Without a coat. Or shoes. Now, that’s pretty glorious.
It’s fair to say I have spring fever. I am feeling really, really done with school for the girls this year. They’re each finishing up at their schools (M will switch to high school for 9th grade, J will switch to middle school for 6th grade), and we’re all pretty much ready to move on. When they were little I just loved the elementary school, but we’ve all outgrown it, and enthusiasm for 5th grade is poor. M loved middle school in 6th grade–and I think J will, too–but they’ve spent the last few weeks talking about plans for high school, so that’s where her head is, now.
I’m feeling much more anxious about these transitions than back when M started middle school. M was super-relaxed and devil-may-care about middle school, and she had a pretty tight group of core friends. J gets anxious and is a bit slower with things like transitions, and her social life is a little disjointed lately–she gets along with a bunch of different girls, but I’m not sure how things will shake out in middle school. Meanwhile, the school district strongly recommends that students take it easy when they start 9th grade and only choose a couple of the higher-level classes. But then the individual teachers make recommendations, and so now M’s schedule is packed and ambitious. In fact, she went back to the counselor requesting a switch to a different science (not the lowest science or even the low-ish science, but the second-highest science instead of the highest), and he said, no, you should stick with honors bio. And I really have no idea if this is going to way too much or not. It kind of seems like it will be. I’m worried that it will be. Especially if she’s got to come up with some activities to prove that she’s got a full, well-rounded life for college. Which, just typing this in has induced stomach cramping. I have no idea how we’re going to manage to pay for college. That’s terrifying. If anyone would like to offer me an unbelievably flexible job that pays a ton of money, that would be terrific.
Wow, I just accidentally plunged down a stress rabbit hole, didn’t I?
The point was, I’m glad it’s spring. Even though I am also sad, because this feels like it was the Winter That Wasn’t. Our family didn’t go skiing or ice skating a single time all winter. That’s incredible. How is that possible? I’ll tell you: packed schedules and very little actual snow. Which doesn’t mean that I’m hoping for a March or April snowstorm. Hell, no. I’ve moved on, emotionally, from the whole winter thing. Except that I can’t quite bring myself to return our seasonal ski rentals yet. That’s right: we paid $200 to clutter up our garage for a few months. I always feel like I have to wait until there’s absolutely no chance of a freak late-season snowfall before returning the skis, and never more so than this year.
Umm, what else? I survived another Kidz Expo, and it was fun to meet people in person who “know” me online. I’ve been meaning to pay a visit to ViaPort Rotterdam, but I haven’t managed it yet. I can’t believe that Easter’s sneaking up so soon–I’ve got to pull out all the decorations. The smart bet is that the Easter Bunny will be bringing J a new bike, and not a moment too soon.
I’ve updated the Events page, too.
