Moving

I sent my little Kate off to Kindergarten this week. [sniff, sniff]. She, of course, did great. She looked so cute with her hair braided, wearing her school clothes, and carrying her blue backpack that matched her eyes. We walked together to the school the first day. She went right in to class with no hesitation, which is exactly how I wanted it to be. Little did she know, however, how her mama’s heart was aching as she walked away from the school without her little one. Suddenly I realized how quickly these years will pass.

Kate seems to be thriving in school. She is excited to go. She has a good teacher. She has become friends with the other children. She tells me all about the routine and the rules and tells me when I am doing things wrong with her lunch or her notebook or her clothes. She teaches Jane new songs and cheers and now in addition to their Indian and bad guy games they play “coach.” Kate thinks she is big stuff walking to school with her backpack. No one can help carry the backpack. It is a symbol that she is a big kid and she goes to school.

Thursday was “a little bit sad.” At breakfast Jane said, “Kate, remember we were playing Pocahontas?” Kate replied, “I can’t, Jane. I have to go to school.” I almost withdrew her on the spot! After we returned home from dropping Kate off and I started unpacking boxes Jane came in and said, “Mom, I miss Kate.” We all miss Kate! It is exciting to see her take this step of independence, but we miss her just the same.

The other big news of the week is that we are in our house! We spent the first two days cleaning up the previous owner’s dirt. Then our pods arrived and we have spent the rest of the week creating messes of our own. The kitchen is now functional and the beds are made. Other than that, we are a work in progress. It’s exciting and overwhelming and discouraging and exhausting, but mostly just exciting!

I have one story from our bachelor pad that I have to write down before I gladly close that chapter of our lives. The bachelor pad was a furnished apartment and decorating was interesting. For one thing, there were mirrors everywhere. Jane Austen fans, I felt like we were renting from Sir Walter Elliot (Persuasion). The most distracting of the mirrors were those surrounding the kitchen table. I would find the girls watching themselves in the mirror when I was trying to talk to them. They would answer me but they were watching themselves in the mirror. One evening we were eating and I said, “We are certainly not going to have mirrors around our kitchen table in our new house.” Josh replied, “Oh? I like mirrors. It makes it look like there is lots and lots of food!” Quintessential Josh.

Love you all! If you are bored this week, call me. I’ll be unpacking boxes!