It’s the first day of school! Grant is starting 3rd and the twins are in 7th now. How fast the time goes! I just was reading an internal P2 post one of my co-workers posted about her son going back to school, and her phrase was “time is a thief” and wow that resonates today.

I haven’t been waking up early this summer (or any summer if I can help it), because I rarely can fall asleep very easily, so I tend to need to continue sleeping into the morning. But today I got up with my alarm at 6:45 am after nearly 6 hours of very broken sleep. It’s chilly this morning, but has been warm in the sun in the afternoons, so the fog is low and heavy until about 9:30 am each day. When I came downstairs, Henry had already turned on the heat, sat on a vent, and tented himself under a blanket. Fortunately, he had also dressed and packed his lunch. Soon, Grant had also sought out his own vent and blanket situation. Eleanor, too mature for such things, strode around looking for her cardinal (the bird, not the team) earrings. In very short order, everyone had dressed, eaten, taken their meds, gotten socks on, and found their shoes. Water bottles were filled for the day, sneakers were switched out for crocs in one case, gym class was confirmed in a second case, and cross country practice clothes were packed. The dog got scooped up, and we got out the door. At the elementary school, Toby – one of the school’s therapy dogs – and the principal and the music teacher greeted Grant. The twins and I motored on to the middle-high school. As we approached, we saw that the school had entirely disappeared, and I asked the twins to squeeze their eyes shut and please manifest the school simply as hard as they could. They did and were obviously successful, as the closer we got, the more of the school they forced into being, out of the fog. By the time we pulled up, the entire school had reappeared, though a little blurry around the edges. They got out, gave Bea one last pat, and disappeared into their disappearing school.

I came back home, walked Bea and recorded the birds singing and calling, and fed us both breakfast. Bob left for work, and now I’m here. Alone. Gloriously alone. Not completely unlike Miss Havisham. September.