Tomorrow

Tomorrow is the kids' first day of fourth grade. It's going to be their first day at a new school, their first day taking a bus to get there, their first day wearing their new uniform, their first day at a place where prayers are a daily occurrence (hmmm), their first day having their own house key, their first day walking to the bus stop, their first day of the next part of their short lives.

It's going to be MY first day as a Mum who does not need to do "the school run", who will worry about her kids walking to and from the bus stop (and will be dorky enough to join them quite a bit for a while at least), who cannot possibly believe that the tiny wrinkled triplets she gave birth to are now 5" tall and counting (and taller), who will look at her son's new school shoes on the stairs tonight (size: Men's 10!) and cry, who will also be having the first day of the next part of her life.

I said earlier that this year was going to be all about progress... and, all other things being equal, it looks as though this is going to be true for all 5 of us living at Casa Verde. Of course, I have every intention of dragging you all along with me for the ride - because being an emotional person such as I am, you KNOW it's going to be a ride - but here's hoping it's much more about the highs than it is about the lows.

By the end of this week, I should have signed the lease on my new shop, DH should have heard when his official start day is for work, and the kids will have made more friends and experienced more things than they ever expected to. It's even quite possible that my son will have even learned that a playground is meant for playing and not for reading books. My DD2 will have worked out that she is not, in fact, the Queen of the Universe, and DD1 will be learning that she can stand on her own two feet and does not need her siblings as much as she thinks she does.

I'm generally pretty sappy when it comes to my kids, but I blame this on them being triplets more than I blame it on my inherent sappiness. After all, I'm only ever going to have ONE "first day of fourth grade" and ONE "first time on the school bus" and so on...and so I can't shower all this love and affection on the next kid that comes along because there will never BE another kid that comes along. (And even if the dog wanted to go to school, there's no way I'm paying another set of private school fees. His canine ass can just suffer at public school.)

However, at a time when I was kissing all the bad stuff goodbye (see ya, diapers, and see ya, potty training, and see ya, two year old tantrums) my friends had years and years and years of it all yet to go. So while I do have my Hallmark moments because of the triplet thing, I also have my "THANK CHRIST THAT'S OVER" moments as well.

It's just all swings and roundabouts...and progress.