Changes

Big changes are in store at my school. My closest colleague at 4th grade is moving down to teach kindergarten next year, and we'll likely be hiring two new fourth grade teachers for next year. The district has redrawn the boundaries to balance out the sizes of all the elementary schools. Our school will be losing some wonderful kids and their equally wonderful families. I'm sure we'll receive some great families too, but I haven't met any of them yet. The uncertainty is unsettling to this self described "Control Freak."

Change is the operative word for my home life too. My daughter is growing into a wonderfully bright and lovely young woman. She's talking about driving, jobs, and college. We've visited her top choice of college twice already. Alyssa volunteers in a kindergarten classroom twice a week and dreams of being a kindergarten teacher. So a school with an Early Childhood Education program is a must.

Noah has become a middle schooler overnight it seems. His attitude and swagger would fit in at any middle school in the country. Thankfully he still likes to spend time with his parents, especially his dad. They practice baseball and basketball skills regularly. My sweet little boy is becoming a man, his feet are already bigger than his 6'2" father's. At 5'4" and 120 pounds he'll soon pass his sister up in size.

Forrest and I have changed too. Now that we have a built in babysitter we're planning more date nights. Although sometimes our idea of a date is a trip to Costco without the kids. But those shopping trips do give us a chance to talk and get caught up with each other. We took a personal day together last week. Our first stop was
Starbucks. We sipped our coffee, read the paper, and talked for more than half an hour. I have visions of spending our retirement years like this, but that's too far in the future to contemplate.