Back to School

Back-to-School Season: The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Play it. You know the song. “It's the most wonderful tiiime of the year...” — and for moms of school-aged kids, it's not about Christmas. It's about SEPTEMBER.

Don't get me wrong, I love my kids. Fiercely. Completely. But by mid-August, we have all spent too much time together. The house is a pressure cooker. Someone is always touching someone else. The phrase “MOM, he's LOOKING at me” has been uttered 400 times. We are ready. WE ARE SO READY.

Back-to-school shopping with six kids is its own extreme sport. The supply lists — have you SEEN these lists? Specific brands. Specific counts. “24 pre-sharpened pencils” — who is pre-sharpening pencils, and can I hire them for everything? I buy in bulk and divide the spoils like a quartermaster. There are spreadsheets. There are labels. There is a child crying because his backpack isn't the right shade of blue.

Then: the first morning. The lunches packed. The outfits chosen (the night before — I've learned). The photos on the porch — six kids, six grades of enthusiasm ranging from “FIRST DAY!” to preteen “why are you like this.” I take the pictures anyway. Future me will thank present me.

And then they leave. The door closes. The house goes quiet. And I stand there in the silence like a soldier after the war — victorious, disoriented, unsure what to do with my hands.

Here's what I do with the quiet: I breathe. I drink coffee while it's HOT — a luxury I forgot existed. I remember who I am when I'm not actively managing six humans. And then, around 2:45, I start missing them. By 3:15 pickup, I'm genuinely happy to see them. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, and also makes mom remember why she likes these people.

Back-to-school: relief, guilt, joy, repeat. Who else does the porch photo shoot? Show me your first-day faces.