Finally, Summer
SUMMER! I’m over at SF MindMeld talking about love during apocalypses, along with some other fabulous authors.
Yesterday was the last day of school for the Prince and Princess. Which means the Princess had a math final (poor baby!) and I spent the two hours of the Prince’s last day helping corral a bunch of fourth-graders as they bounced around signing yearbooks and each other’s clothing (and arms, faces, and whatnot) and said their summer goodbyes. The Prince, his teacher and all his classmates will be together again next year–the teacher is “looping up” with her class, which is amazing and awesome. The Princeling loves his teacher with a deep abiding love, and I like her quite a bit as well. I’m pretty stunned by her ability to put up with twenty-odd kids all day. God knows I’d implode into a pile of cinders.
The Prince has had a big year, what with his school burning down and various other things, but he’s come thought beautifully. All the same, this year is the first that he’s actively looked forward to school ending, because, as he tells me seriously with big brown eyes, “I need a break, I think.”
The other big thing is…well, a while ago I gave birth to this beautiful baby girl, and this summer she’s learning to pilot tons of moving metal.
Yep, the Princess is going to driving school. WHAT IS THIS I DON’T EVEN.
It’s an exotic feeling to look at this absolutely beautiful young lady, and think my God, where did the time go, and how did she turn into an almost-adult? She’s got a tangy, sarcastic sense of humor, like mine, and the other day she made her first off-color joke in front of her mother. I laughed until I cried and hugged her. Maybe that was the wrong thing to do? I don’t know. What I do know is that she’s a marvelous human being, and it’s been a privilege to watch and marvel and keep her safe as she grows (mostly) up. (She’s still got some ways to go, but you can see the shape of the awesome adult she’s going to be.)
Most of parenthood is keeping a straight face, and there’s a lot of getting out of the way and letting these fantastic little beings be who they are without your interfering or baggage.The latter is so, so hard. I know I’m nowhere near finished, and that I’m going to be Mom for the rest of my life before I’m anything else…
…but sometimes, I look at where these kids are, and I think maybe I haven’t done half bad at all. Most of the credit goes to them, of course, but I deserve maybe a little for not getting in the way.
*beams*
photo by:
Photocapy
