This week’s paper will go to print and I will not have looked at it Wednesday. Even more than that, I will not have proofed a single page of the three Lincoln County papers after they are laid out for print. I will proof the individual stories before it goes to print, but it’s different when you see the page put together.
Am I taking some time off to relax? No. Have I thrown in the towel? Not yet. Instead, I will be on the road before we start layout Wednesday morning, as the time came for Ben to move to college.
It’s time to start his next chapter.
I feel a little more prepared because I’ve already moved one to college. But this is also a completely different college, a completely different state, a completely different child and a lot further away.
When Brady moved, I didn’t go all that long without seeing him because I had meetings and other events in the Cities. I would meet up with him about once a month.
However, I don’t have a lot of reasons to head to Iowa. Ben will be coming home for Box Car Days because, obviously it’s the World’s Only Box Car Days! His class schedule also allows for a weekend trip here or there.
The thing is, I don’t push for my kids to come home during the semester. Brady usually only comes home for Thanksgiving, Christmas and spring break. It’s not that I don’t miss them. I absolutely do, but I feel like college is such an important time for them to grow and experience new things and new challenges.
I want them to make new friends, to figure out how to handle challenges (however, a call to mom once in a while would be nice) and to start to figure out life.
There was a part of me that thought moving my second kid would be so much easier than my first. But I was wrong.
First, August is tough. I don’t think I’m in the minority here.
Whether they want to admit it or not, August is a tough month for families no matter what stage you’re in. Kids are either bored from the summer or dreading going back to school. You’re trying to fit in all the end of the summer things you need to get done, prepare for the next school year, get ready for practice, fairs, etc. Not to mention the constant running of kids, and maybe trying to get back into a routine.
August also seems to resemble December and May in the fact that every family is being pulled in 10 different directions. Instead of Christmas concerts or end of the year award programs, it’s school open houses, last minute eye doctor or dental visits, sports meetings, school shopping, etc.
As I write this, I think more today than ever I have said out loud, to myself of course, I am so overwhelmed, I am never going to get everything done.
Yet, somehow we do. As you read your paper on Thursday morning, I will be reading it, too. I’m going to be checking in to see how Ben’s first night in the dorms went. And I’ll be starting the process of getting ready to move Brady.
And when I’m back in the office for a full day, I won’t get caught up. Maybe the new routine of only one kid at home will make it easier to keep up. At the same time, we never really stop parenting. Our roles shift as they start new chapters, but we are forever a parent.
So I’m going to put in late hours at odd times. I’m going to be at all the places I need to be for my kids. And I’m going to take a deep breath because I will not get it all done. But I am going to get the most important stuff done and that means being a mom.
