The Flake Family

Well...today is the day I have been dreading since the beginning of summer break. THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!

Kaitlyn is at school right now. We ended up driving her there because the bus came at 7:15 a.m......about 8 minutes too soon. Seriously...I hope they are a little later tomorrow because I don't want to have to wake up kids to take Kaitlyn to school everyday. Today wasn't too bad because Addie was already awake due to the fact that she'd had a little accident and had to be cleaned up. Weston would have slept another hour or more....but he's been in a good mood so I wont (or shouldn't) complain! Kaitlyn wanted her hair curled this morning...otherwise we probably wouldn't have missed the bus....but it was worth it to have her feel good about the way she looked on her first day of first grade. She got her hair cut last week....short. She had made up her mind that she wanted it short...and so I took her before she had a chance to back out! I have been wanting her to cut her hair just because it's so much easier to style! Well....that was Tuesday. Come Wednesday morning...she was hating life. She cried to me for a half hour about how her hair cut was a "disaster" and that she wanted her long hair back. She mourned the WHOLE day...seriously! I have been there though....having been on the receiving end of many hair cuts that were much shorter than I wanted...I could completely relate to her and I told her that a lot. She asked me if I'd go get my hair cut shorter than hers....and I had to draw the line of just how far I was going to let this sympathy thing go! Well...it's been almost a week, and even though Kaitlyn still misses her long hair and prays that her hair grows back fast... she's gotten used to the new cut and if she were being honest...she'd say something like "I like it now... but still want my long hair back." ANYHOW....back to the topic of school! I took the kids down to the school Thursday and we found Kaitlyn's classroom and even met her teacher, Mrs. Taylor. Now, she's at school until 2:20 p.m. That seems like such a long time! Adelin and Weston are sure to drive me crazy until they learn how to play together without Kaitlyn around to be the ring leader. We all miss her...well....I guess I can't speak for everyone....but it makes me want to cry that she's in first grade...all day. After I dropped her off at school I drove past to see if she made it in alright. She was walking up the steps...by herself...I know she has plenty of friends and cousins at school and that she's having a blast...but seeing her walk up those stairs with her back to me made me just want to get out, run over to her and give her a big hug and tell her I love her a million times! I don't know WHAT I am going to do when she goes to college...or worse...gets married! I will need therapy! These are all things you want your kids to do....they are good for them to do, they are experiences that they need to have in this life...because that's what life is all about....experiences. Sometimes you think of life as a list of things that are going to happen: birth, first smile, first tooth, crawling, walking, talking, going to preschool, kindergarten, losing your first tooth, then every other grade until graduation, then college...and in there are other things like giving your first talk in Primary, then Sacrament Meeting, then being baptized, going to YW/YM, then through the Temple, a mission, being sealed and so on.....these are all things on our list of life that are good...we want them to happen...but for some reason, when they happen to our kids....our first reaction is to be sad and mourn that our child is growing up....just as they should. Maybe by being a parent, and watching our kids grow up...we feel a little of what Heavenly Father felt when we left our Home at birth. He probably kissed us and hugged us and told us that He loves us a million times and then said something like, "It makes me sad, but you need to go. You can't learn anymore here. I promise I will be here when you need me. Don't forget that." Just like we do when you have to let go of our kids...little by little...one first day of school at a time...we learn...and they learn... and that is what life is all about.