School starts back up next Wednesday. I know we are weeks behind other areas of the country, but it still feels too early, too much like summer never really happened, to start that routine again.
With the lack of work, the summer was a long string of days searching for work, writing cover letters, struggling to make cash and cool days when I wondered if the entire season would just go belly up. Luckily there were some lovely moments, too. Belize. Camping. Sunsets and street fairs.
The housemates are back and the son’s voice has deepened oh-so-slightly. We haven’t heard his stomping overhead for nearly a month with our families’ different schedules and, to be honest, I haven’t missed it. The heavy footsteps are back, though, and the older they get, the louder they are on the floor below.
The daughter has bought school clothes with money from her grandparents. And she is trying to edge her sleep schedule backward toward a school-friendly 9 p.m. bedtime from her summer-crazy midnight turn-in. Meanwhile I’ve been the sack by 10 p.m., no matter what.
The son is coming back(!) in less than two weeks. The job fell through and he’s got classes ready for him at the college down the street. Come to find out, he can get financial aid after all!
Give me another coupe of weeks and thing will be in a new, but similar routine. Dropping one kid off instead of two. Heading north instead of staying put for work. And devising some schedule for the daughter to get home on her own. It’s a challenge, this new working mom life. But already it’s feeling better.
Now, I’m just waiting for my first paycheck since May. tap tap tap
