The First Day of School

Carlie and Erinna both started school today. Erinna is a senior. She took awesome senior photos with Amy and I can't wait to see the rest.

But Erinna is a young adult, and my big kids don't like to be the subject of my blog. So that's all I am going to say about that. She's going to have a crazy/busy/awesome year.

Carlie, on the other hand, is still young enough to be denied access to my blog, so I can talk about her all I want. She started middle school today. I was absolutely traumatized. How pathetic is that?
You've got to remember, she has gone to the same small Catholic school since she was three years old. That's eight years in the same building. And now? Middle school. At a public school. Twice the size of her old school. Also? It's not just a middle school. This school serves grades 6-12. Which means that when I dropped my baby off for sixth grade today, we were greeted by grown men who still happen to be in high school. Seriously.

I had neglected to pay for her school lunches at orientation, so I had to go into the building with her this morning. The place was chaos. Huge teenagers everywhere, and because my shorty is literally a shorty, her face is, like, right at backpack height of all of these gargantuan teens. She was being battered by backpacks as we made our way to the cafeteria.

And then? She fell down the fucking stairs. I kid you not. Fell. Down. The. Stairs. On the first day of school. She wasn't hurt, but she was stunned and a little teary eyed. When she regained her composure, the only comment she made was, "Thank god no one saw me fall." (We were the only ones in the stairwell, because apparently i am the only parent who didn't pre-pay for lunches. yay me.)

I had a hard time leaving here there. She looked like a preschooler amongst all of those tweens and teens. I'm no rookie, I've been leaving kids at school since the early 90s, but this one was especially rough for me. This is a year of a lot of transition for our family, but especially for Carlie. We've moved out of the home that she was born into, we're living in a very small condo, she's basically gone from being one of four to an only child.

And now a new school for the first time ever. Oh! And she's riding the school bus home. She's never ridden a school bus before. Ever. The bus got her home at 5 p.m. FIVE P.M. In another couple of weeks, it'll be dark by 5 p.m. Oy.

And what about me? I need to form a whole new mom posse. At her old school, I had no less than a dozen people on speed dial that I could call if I were running late or needed any kind of help with transportation or a missing lunch, whatever. But now? I've got very limited back up. Plus? At her old school, I would have spent 20 minutes hanging out in the parking lot chatting with friends, and then ended up having coffee somewhere with someone. Today? Nada.

What? Now I'm supposed to make new friends? Honestly, I'm too old for this shit.

Delinquent

How I spent my summer vacation... predominantly in the ballroom

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I've had so many things to write about, but no time to write them down. Which is, ultimately, a good problem to have, versus nothing to write about. I guess it's called "being present" in my own life, or some new-agey crap like that.

I did have a huge burst of creativity at about 4 a.m. recently, with an idea for a story so tremendous I was giddy. And when I woke up, the idea was gone. Gone, but it left a shadow that has nagged at my brain for days. I have a feeling that *the big idea* is just on the outskirts of the shadow, waiting to be rediscovered.

Do you watch Mad Men? There's an episode called The Color Blue in which Paul has The Best. Idea. Ever., doesn't write it down, and then forgets it. Paul, brother, I feel your pain.

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We are in our last week of summer vacation. School starts a week from tomorrow for Carlie and for Erinna. Ironically, it's currently a dark shade of winter gray outside and the temp is 56 with a high of 66 expected. I've been obsessed with the crazy weather all summer long.

To celebrate the end of summer... a roundup of what my kids are doing.

Maggy is winding down her two-year college program and starts her second-to-last semester of school today, in Texas. Iris continues to be unbelievably cute, even though we only get to soak up her cuteness through Skype. They were here to visit early in the summer, and it seems like it was a very long time ago.

Taylor is still living in Santa Barbara, firmly on the grid despite earlier rantings to the contrary. But in a bold showing of distinct counterculture behavior, he has just moved into an unconverted warehouse with two roommates. They have no kitchen and they have a shared bathroom with the rest of the building, with no shower. I asked where they would shower, and his answer was the beach. At least he has a plan. He has not been home since Christmas.

Erinna starts her senior year a week from today, and is embracing all that that entails. She is back to a good tennis practice regimen to get ready for the season after a summer of not playing. And she has her first job, bussing tables at a restaurant, where they pay her money! She has her senior portrait photo shoot scheduled for Thursday with the ridiculously fabulous Amy and a back-to-school shopping trip scheduled with Carlie for later this week. Because Carlie needs new school clothes. Clothes which are not uniforms. Because...

She was (finally) accepted into VSAA, aka, Vancouver School of Arts and Academics. Can I get an amen?

We spent Sunday at Carlie's third Ballroom Showcase. I've linked the videos and told the sad tale of how her dance partner was sick and couldn't make it on Facebook, so it feels kind of repetitive to retell it here. If you're not on Facebook, though, and interested in seeing her dance videos, here is a link to her Viennese Waltz. She did five dances, but I think once you get to You Tube for the V. Waltz you'll be able to see all five videos, right? I am many things, but You Tube savvy is not one of them.

It's time for me to go to work on my stack of transcripts that need finishing. Thanks for sticking with me to the bitter end of the most boring blog post of all time. I'll do my best to recapture that elusive big idea and come back to dazzle your asses soon.

Back to school

Carlie spent her day today planning her fall makeup color pallette. I am not even making this up. Have you met me? My makeup color pallette consists of brown/black mascara and -- oh wait, that's all.

Middle school. God help us.

The stress of our back to school situation is not helped by the fact that we still do not know which school she is going to. Her current school (Catholic, private) starts one week before her potential new school (Art School, public), which means if the Art School waits until the last minute to let us know that she is in, we will have to (a) purchase unnecessary school supplies from the current school's list (b) buy 6th grade uniforms (which we have zero of, because it is different than the 5th grade uniform and (c) pay the first month's tuition.

I don't want to do any of those things.

I am considering homeschooling her, except I get hung up on the part where we are (a) at home together and (b) doing school type stuff. Other than that, homeschooling is our backup plan.

I am really very much not ready for summer to end. Or for my baby to grow up.