2010 First Day of School

A few days ago I posted some "remember when" pictures of my boys' first day of school from several years ago.   Well, here are the latest pictures.  Where did the time go?

 

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My Not So Little Boys

As the first day of school rolls around I always tend to get a little sentimental.  The boys will soon be putting on their “first day of school” outfits (yes, boys are concerned about looking good just like the girls) and I’ll be asking to take their pictures one more time in the front yard as we head out the door.

It’s hard to believe that I am the mother of a soon to be 8th grader and 4th grader.  I must admit, I love their independence.  It’s comforting to know they can do most things for themselves if they have to.  But, there is a side of me that misses their little chubby faces and them asking for help with their shoes or their zippers.   We’re definitely entering a “Mom, I can do it by myself” mode with one and a “Mom, do you still need to read all my texts?” phase with the other. 

So, in honor of all the soon to be taken “first day of school” pictures, I am remembering when mine were a little smaller and needed mommy’s help a little bit more than they do now.  

 

                                                                    Pre-School Yr. 1                          2nd Grade

  

                                                                   Pre-School Yr. 2                        3rd Grade

 

                                               Kindergarten                          4th Grade

Angels and Battery Corrosion

At the last stop light before the school drop off line begins, my little VW “sput, sput, kaput.”  No more running engine.  “Oh, great.  I guess I’m going to be late for school,” my son laughed to himself.  “No you’re not.  You can walk down the hill.  You have plenty of time,” I told him.  He’s not even a track lap from school and doesn’t know how he’s going to get there?  (Another blog for another time.)  I booted him out of the car amidst the now frustrated cars around me and off to school he walked.   There’s a first for everything.  I quickly realized the trouble I was causing with nine school buses behind me, all about to be off their strict time schedules, cars honking at me to proceed to the drop off line, (I guess they couldn’t see my hand waving them around me or my emergency blinkers blinking) and an angry mother waving her arms up in frustration behind me.  What was I supposed to do?  Whip out my “I’m having car troubles this morning. I’m so sorry, I’ve upset your routine as well” sign and wave it from the roof of my car smiling?   Really people?  

Once the car behind me realized I wasn’t putting on my mascara and lip gloss, she finally pulled around me and was off on her way leading the pack of 87 cars and buses.  I quickly called my husband, who was there in a matter of minutes and sat there for a moment and tried to collect my thoughts.  

Twenty seconds couldn’t have passed before I had a woman ask if I was ok, another car offer to take my son down the hill to school, a man make a U-turn in front of me to park his car and push me out of the way, and my very dear friend pull over in front of me to see if she could help.  I was stunned.  But the most stunning part, was the woman who was behind me waving her arms in frustration at me, came back up the hill, parked her car, and walked over to me and apologized for her behavior and asked if she could help me.  I couldn’t believe the graciousness that had just fallen in my lap and surrounded me.  I was smiling and not the least bit upset or worried about my car.  Somehow I knew it would be fine.

I had just thought to myself yesterday that I needed to get an oil change and should fill my car with gas so I wouldn’t have to mess with it today, but I didn’t.  So when my car died, I thought I had run out of gas (For the record, I have never had that happen, and don’t wait 'til the light goes on to fill up, but yesterday I did.) or my oil needed changed (as I was 1500 miles past my little mileage reminder sticker in my window).  Why didn’t I do that yesterday?  It was my own fault.

But here’s the icing on the cake.  The man who pushed my car out of the middle of the road, turned to me and said, “Why don’t you give it a try now.”  He had no idea what was wrong with my car, nor had I told him my battery light had come on.  Just a simple command for me to try it one more time.  My car started.  I knew what had just happened and felt so calm inside.  

My husband followed me to the gas station where I put 12.94 gallons of gas in my 13-gallon tank, then got my oil changed. Come to discover, no oil in my car and battery corrosion.  Had I gone for the oil change yesterday, they would have seen the corrosion then and fixed it yesterday and none of this would have happened.  Somehow, I had the angels there to offer their help, enough gas to get to the gas station and an oil technician who noticed the battery corrosion.  

Believe what you will, but I know exactly what happened.  Today is a good day in more ways than you’ll ever know.