I’m not feeling sad about the end of summer. Or sending the kids off to school. I love both. I love new supplies and new tennis shoes and emergency contact information sheets that I have to fill out 42 separate times. I love the little systems that we use to keep ourselves organized and the morning routine and our daily breakfast menu and the homework rituals. I love it all. I love it all until June when I’m sick of it all. It’s the perfect system.
Sure I will think about my kids when they are in their new school. I will wonder how they are doing. I will hope that they meet nice kids and that they are nice to other kids. I want their teachers to get them and to see how special they are. I will be early to pick them up at the bus stop because I hate being late.
But I won’t miss them during the day. I’m done with togetherness. And I think that’s how it’s supposed to be. For us at least. We need some separation and some structure. And I need some time. Some decent chunks of time to put towards these three things.
1. I’m off the wagon. I need to get back on the running, yoga, skip the “just because” cocktails, don’t eat off my kids’ plates, take the time to make something healthy wagon. I’m in an exercise and food rut. Our weekly menu has devolved to burgers, bbq chicken, burritos, pizza, repeat. A little more time to myself means grocery shopping without “helpers” and some ingredients to actually make a few things. I can run, take a few yoga classes and hopefully drop this white wine bloat that’s been following me around these last weeks of summer.
2. I’ve got big ideas. I’m heading into my six month blogging anniversary. I’m pretty proud of being able to keep up with it over our move and the summer when it would have been easy to let it fade away into that thing I tried once. But I’ve been keeping a running list of a bunch of different ways to make my blog better, share with more people and maybe, just maybe, move my writing in a more career-centered direction – as in get paid baby! So I need some time to think and plan but not too much time because, well, I’ve been known to over think things.
3. Nest and move on. I’m so close. I can taste it. The best thing about renting is that there is a limit on what I can do to make this house work for us. I have two major areas left to tackle – the boys’ rooms and the basement. If I can get those to a place where I don’t shudder every time I walk through, I will be a happy camper. And then I can just let it ride. We decided that we would use what we have and make it work with only a very small budget for buying new stuff, and then we can just enjoy it. I’m looking forward to being able to spend our free time exploring our new area instead of making lists of home improvement projects.
I’ve always liked the idea of September being a good time to reboot your year vs. January. I stole this idea from Gretchin Rubin. But it does seem easier to be motivated and make some resolutions in September than in the middle of the winter. Maybe you have some end of summer resolutions too…
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