We are gearing up for school here, as well as a whole slew of birthdays.
I am used to September as the start—and end—of everything. Being a September baby myself, and having no memory of a time I was not on an academic calendar, the move into September has always felt more like New Year’s than January 1st. Goodbye old, hello new. But also hello, Older. The excitement was always tinged with an awareness of something lost.
The fact that all of that has shifted into August only makes me feel like time is moving faster. Remember those days when a single year constituted a full sixth of your life? It’s funny, now, to think that I once saw adults as—what did I see them as? Settled? Smug? Old? There’s no denying that I am one of those mysterious creatures now, yet I feel none of those things.
But today is Youngest’s birthday, not mine, and she is bursting with the new maturity of Six. All three kids are starting school next week, and their excitement is building. There is so much to get done right now, and so much to look forward to. In some ways, I do want to slow it down. Soak up every moment. At the same time though, something tells me that would be impossible. It would dampen things too much. And so—busy, busy—we move forward and embrace what’s ahead, knowing it will always be tinged with a slew of other feelings as well.
Maybe that just makes the cake all the more delicious.
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