August 17, 2022

Today is the first day of school for the Round Rock kiddos and if you’re like us you are rejoicing in the fact that you were able to successfully get your kids up and out the door this morning as you breathed a sigh of relief and thought to yourself that with school starting comes some sort of normalcy again for our lives. Being the type A personality that I am, I love routines and I live by my schedule as I’m sure some of you can relate with me. On the other hand, I have learned over this past year to embrace last-minute changes, and how to roll with the punches which have given me a new perspective on a different area of my life to embrace that I haven’t previously embraced before and I know that it will serve me well as I embrace changes over this next year.

We also know that the return of the school year statements, such as these, is just around the corner.

“No, I don’t know where your lunchbox is, I didn’t take it to school”

“Where’s your jacket? You had it when you left home today”

“I thought you didn’t have homework this week so why do you have these missing assignments?”

Our kid’s brains are currently mush. They just are. Summers are WAY too long. Our kiddos have watched all the TV they can watch. They have played all the video games they can play. They have vacationed, swam, hung out with friends, Snap-Chatted, and FaceTimed, all they could. Put a fork in them they are just done and ready to get back to having some brain stimulation and social interactions that are not through an iPhone or computer screen.

We, the parents are done as well. We are tired of being their “cruise directors” and tired of seeing them on their iPhones, and computer screens all day long. We are tired of dragging their butts out of bed at 1 pm in the afternoon. We’ve been dreaming, and yearning, for the day where they get up and leave our homes so we can once again work in peace and quiet and yet, on the other hand for those of us with high school kiddos, we realize that the years they are with us are almost gone.

We know that our influence over them is minimal by the time they hit their high school and college years. We have to trust that we have done our jobs as we open our front doors and put them in our cars and send them down the road (alone) and pray that we taught them right. In hopes that we provided all the support they needed, taught them the skills they will need to navigate these last few days/months/years of high school and onward to college. We have prayed over our kiddos and our friend’s kiddos many more hours than we could ever count.

So for all the parents out there who tearfully stood at the bus stop putting your kindergartner on the bus for their first day of school or for the parents of our Seniors who watched them drive off to the first day of their Senior year, I hope that you joyfully got up today with a big smile on your face knowing that today starts a new chapter in our kiddos lives. I hope that you smiled and waved bye as our kiddos climbed the stairs of the bus, or closed the door of their car, and bravely made their way forward in the world. Hopefully, as you watched the bus or their car drive away, you said a little prayer for our school teachers, resource officers, lunch ladies, janitors, and kiddos for a SAFE and productive school year and as you closed the door behind you, I hope you breathed a sigh of relief and just enjoyed the momentary quiet in your home before the craziness of your day began.

Wishing all of you a wonderful 2022-2023 school year and praying for us all!

Xo,

Tracy