Norman Rockwell Would Be Proud

I've got a Type A personality. I know that comes as a bit of a shock to some of you, but it's true. :-) And in case you've been hiding under a rock somewhere for the last nine months, I'm going to let you in on a little secret: We've been going through some stuff. We're talking MAJOR upheaval here. Moving to a new city, to a new state, to a new school (for the first time EVER), making new friends, worshipping with a new church, living in a new neighborhood, finding new interests--and through it all there's been a lot of laughter, a lot of tears, not a little anxiety, much anticipation, and just a little bit of that fear of the unknown of which I am not at all fond.

When we moved here in December and the kids started school in January, it was all we could do to keep our heads above water. "One day at a time" became my mantra, followed closely by, "If we can just make it to the summer . . . ." Well, we did. Summer came, we stopped and took a collective deep breath, and we slowly starting digging our way through the rubble.

Fast forward three months: The beginning of a new school year was on the horizon. And after the fantastic summer we spent together as a family, I really wanted to start the school year off right. I mean, I REALLY wanted it. Sorta like Michael Phelps really wanted those eight gold medals in the Olympics. Yeah, just like that.

Consequently, I spent a lot of time praying about the new school year. That's never a bad thing, and it has already reaped tremendous rewards. I said in my previous post that I wasn't sure we could have improved on the day; clearly, that was written from my perspective alone because I was not the one who had to figure out how to cram six binders and assorted school supplies in my locker and then get said binders and supplies to six different classes with only five minutes between classes and a persnickety combination lock to boot (welcome to Tyler's world). But from where I'm standing, EVERYTHING about Day One (and Day Two, for that matter) was sheer perfection.

I was inclined to write and give you every gory detail but instead, I'll just hit the high points. Because I do love lists!

1. Randy got his first shock of the day when his alarm went off and he awoke to find Darcy and Peyton lying, fully dressed and ready for school, on the floor and making "carpet angels." Did I mention it was 6:45 a.m.?


2. Tyler didn't require even a single poke or prod to get him moving. On the contrary, he was up at 6:30 along with the girls and had not a trace of the bleary eyes he came to be known for over the summer.


3. Because Tyler has to be at school at 8:00 and the girls (for now) not until 8:30, we divided and conquered. Since Randy had not attended Tyler's back to school function, I sent him to the middle school to help get Tyler situated, and I took Sawyer to deposit the girls in their new classrooms. I dropped Peyton off first with the promise that I would return, and then I went along with Darcy. Darcy is just pure joy to watch, and this is coming from an organizational freak (I know you can't tell so much from my house but trust me, it's true). She went right to work methodically unloading her messenger bag and placing all her items just so and five minutes later, as other parents were encouraging their kids to figure out where this or that notebook went or were picking up scattered pencils, Darcy was sitting at her desk with her hands folded. She is a trip.


4. I went back to Peyton's classroom in time to see her scurrying around with the sweetest little smile, arranging her chair pocket and all of the items on her table, and I could see that she was so tickled because her table adjoins her friend Hannah's. Gold!


5. Randy called me as I was leaving the elementary building to give me the bad news that I mentioned earlier about Tyler's locker situation. Some things you just have to learn by doing, you know? And we learned that to survive in middle school, you've got to have a locker shelf! Duh! The things they DON'T tell you at back to school night! So I resolved to take care of that problem as quickly as possible. But even when Tyler was telling me how jumbled and disorganized his locker was, and how contrary his combination lock can be, he said it with laughter! And smiling! And peace on earth, goodwill toward men! It seems nothing was going to ruin his day!


6. Since Tyler is the first to school, he is also first to get out, so in a reversal from last year it is now Tyler who gets my undivided attention when I pick him up. Because I wasn't sure how I wanted to deal with three different pick-up times (3:00, 3:15 and 3:30, for crying out loud), I decided to collect Tyler and drop him off at the church building where he could play basketball until I got back with the girls in tow. And this, THIS was probably my favorite part of the day: When I pulled up outside the church office to let Tyler out, he opened his door and said, "Hang on, I want to give Sawyer a hug." I'm tearing up right now just thinking about it. He gave Sawyer the sweetest embrace, told him he'd missed him all day, and then hugged him again. Priceless.


7. To sum up, all of the kids LOVED Day One. And Day Two was better for Tyler in terms of his locker situation, and I love hearing him say that he really likes this class or that teacher. Frankly, I didn't expect that this early! To top it off, though, his favorite class is his Bible class and you KNOW I couldn't be any happier about that!