Moms – do you remember that last time you went shopping for something with your child but didn’t realize it would be the last time you would be shopping for that item? It dawned on me recently that TWO YEARS AGO was the last time I shopped with one of our kids for school supplies! What? Did I go through a time warp? How does that happen??
I’m not sure how time went by so fast but moms! I’m here to tell you it happens before you can say “senior year“. All of a sudden I’m saddened that two years ago I ordered most of the supplies online because it was easier. Did I really think it was easier than spending quality time with our daughter who loves school supplies as much as she loves One Direction? (seriously, One Direction – still!)
Suddenly our daughter is a senior in high school. She is the second oldest in our family. Our first oldest, our son, has been living in Orlando taking classes at a college in that area so the thought of the last time we bought school supplies together was never an issue (until now) because I thought I had more time to shop with his sister.
Our daughter attends a collegiate high school which means she takes college classes. We don’t get any school supply information until the first week or two of the semester. Then it’s just minor stuff like college ruled notebooks. Yes – that’s it! College. Ruled. Notebooks. Boring!
When our kids were in elementary and middle school, we couldn’t wait for when the school supply list came out. It was like a special Christmas list tailored just for us that we could fulfill by going to the office supply store or one of the big box stores. It was so exciting to get the new backpacks and lunch boxes each year, along with the packages of construction paper, composition notebooks, crayons, glue, #2 pencils, packs of pink erasers; graduating to calculators, pens, highlighters, notebooks, and graphing calculators. Yes. Even graphing calculators were fun to buy.
As we get closer to school starting and you are feeling overwhelmed with the school supply lists, new clothes, backpacks, lunch boxes, new schedules, new teachers, new principles, maybe new schools. Stop. Stop worrying and enjoy those lasts. The last first day of school at the elementary school; the last first day of middle school; the last first day of high school. Time goes by so quickly and you really are doing a great job! Take the time to stop and enjoy all of those lasts.
The older our kids get all of those “lasts” become bittersweet but keep in mind there are so many new firsts! We finally get to see the beginning of our work as parents coming to fruition and it’s an amazing journey.
Enjoy the adventure!
