May 5, 2015

The End is Near

May 5, 2015
The end is near.  Closer today than yesterday.  Closer today than the first day of school an eon ago.  Closer today than this morning's alarm clock.  The end is near my fellow mommas.  Thank the Lord baby Jesus it is near.  The glimmer of light that teases you and beckons you not to give up is there in the distance.  The last day of school is approaching.  {Insert the sound of a trumpet here}
This is the FIRST year that I have actually longed for the last day of school.  This year was a rough one.  I surrender.  I will take that last day of school and cheer along with my children.  I will open my arms wide and embrace summer and the sticky popsicle hot mess that it is.  I'll trade the daunting task of getting five kids out the door in time for the sun to rise for the two words I despise: "I'm bored".  

Wouldn't it be "genius" if Popsicle packaged their popsicles with Wet Wipes?!?!?
The cranky morning fights and sluggish whines that sing out like a dying cat chorus will take place later in the morning when we have all had a few minutes extra sleep.  Without backpacks to track down, agendas to sign, and homework to tape back together, our mornings will be blissful.  Maybe.  Probably not.  But a girl can dream.  I'll take my chances.  I will, for the FIRST time ever, be thankful school is out (even if my gratitude is for a few moments or so). 

It will be difficult at first.  Change is hard.  Me, like my brood, need structure and depend on routine.  It's the wide openness of summer that has always had me dreading the last day of school and upping my meds.  Hey, wanna know something? I'm a huge supporter of year round school and nixing Fall Break and Spring Break. I need a daily break from my children and they from me.  We work best when the heart grows fonder after being away from each other for seven very short hours.  

I mean who on this earth doesn't want 90 uninterrupted days with this cuteness?!?!
Wait.  Is it school that I'm feeling so jubilant about ending?  Ooooorrrrrr... is it SOCCER?  Aw soccer.  The sport that sucks any measly moment of free time from my already dry soul.  Soccer.  The bitter-sweet activity that teaches my children team work, coordination, and skill is the very activity that spreads me so thin I'm mentally translucent.  Now, don't think I'm some awful witch.  It's just that soccer takes me away from my captain duties of running a very tight ship.  I love watching my children hoot and holler and run and score and give body bumps and high fives to their team mates.  I marvel at my daughter's ability to move the ball down the field while pretending to be a unicorn frolicking with fairies. I DO NOT love the practices nearly every night of the week (four of five of my litter play soccer) and four plus games every weekend (don't get me started on tournaments) in the country's most inconsistent weather state, Oklahoma .  The wind come sweeping down the soccer fields at 30 mph and they play rain, sleet, sand, or shine unless of course there is lightning within four miles.  Absurd!  And then there's Soccer Summer Camp. "No bleepin' way," said the cranky 'ol woman. 

I see a soccer field.  She sees unicorns and fairies.  She's pretty magical! Photo Credit: Bethanie Lied
Whew! That felt good.  Right up there with soccer are Thursday Folders.  The folders that come home every Thursday exploding with enough paper that certainly killed a forest per child.  As if we don't have enough going on there are stacks of other activities to shell out cash for and take your kid to kicking and screaming (I'm usually the one kicking and screaming).  Thursday folders are so exhausting that I once had to have a diet Dr. Pepper before setting up camp next to a trash can to purge the endless fliers.  With four kids coming home with them I have to have something a bit stronger these days.  We call it a grown up drink around here.  Summer if anything, is so liberating because it means three months of NO Thursday folders.  

This is a handy exercise to engage in while sifting through Thursday Folders
Am I finished here?  I think so.  My rant is over.  I will raise my head and my glass to summer.  Hooray!  The time is coming when the agony of pick up lines and book reports will fade into the lemony sunshine of summer.  Cheers to fighting over swim goggles, wet towels on the floor, flies, humidity, Capri Suns, ants, and a nutritious 90 day diet of Pop Tarts and Lunchables.  All that said, come August I will be posting about my extreme life and death need for school to start again.  

Yep.  Pretty much #truth. 



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