Tomorrow will be interesting...

Tomorrow is the day.  The end of sleeping in, lazy pajama days, beach rendezvous, endless Mad Men marathons and time well spent with my girls.

Tomorrow "workdays" begin.  For those of you not in the education profession, "workdays" are those days we got to work without the students present.  Anyone who has ever taught knows every day is a work day, but, alas, that's what we call them...

Any who, tomorrow I join the real world again.

I'm actually looking forward to it.  Sort of.

My husband keeps saying that this year (school year) is going to be interesting.  And I agree, I just don't like the way he says interesting...as if there is something attached to it. As if he knows something I do not.

Sass, what I call my 17 year old, will be a senior this year.

**pardon me while I vomit**

Yes, that's right, mama's baby is entering her last year of public schooling.

I'm not exactly dealing very well with this fact.  This is apparent from the sobbing I choke back every time I think about sending her off to college next year.    Tears, ugly face and all.

And she hasn't even had her first day of her senior year.

Yes, I am naturally a crier.  But, it's usually over tissue commercials, "move that bus" moments or Sarah McLachlan's horrid doggie commercials.

You know, things that any normal person with a heartbeat might get a little verklempt over.

This is different.  This crying is because I know.

I know once she leaves for college, our life with her will never be the same.  Not that it will be bad, but it will be different.

She will be different.

She'll get that first taste of independence and love every morsel of it.  She'll make her own hours, develop relationships I'll question and entertain opinions I don't trust.

As she rightly should.  It's a rite of passage.

But that doesn't mean I have to like it:)

Sass has always been a "good kid". We have never had to give her a curfew because she's never needed one.  She makes very wise choices for her age and surrounds herself with "good people".
She has great discernment and can see crazy coming a country mile away.  She sticks to her guns.

So, I struggle with my tears, because I truly am happy for her.  I'm excited for the prospects that lie ahead. But I'm sad that my little girl is growing up.
Fortunately, she's growing into a God-fearing, Jesus loving, strong, capable woman.  But it's still too fast for this mama.

Tomorrow, for me, is way more than a regular workday.  It's the beginning to our year of "lasts".  Last homecoming football game, last Christmas at home, last prom, last, last, last...

Told you I wasn't dealing very well.

So forgive me if I start crying for no apparent reason.  I'm trying to manage some very "interesting" emotions.

Sweet Sass on her 3rd birthday