Crossing the Rubicon

Vicki started back to work yesterday. This is not her first time back, obviously, but she hasn't worked full-time since Samson was born, nearly five(!) years ago. Which means that our schedules will begin a grand, if somewhat gradual, readjustment over the next several days. Earlier to bed, and much, much earlier to rise.

The kids (plural) start school next week, so Vicki's mom has graciously offered to help out with both Samson and Jane a few days this week, and I'll be taking two days this week and one day next to make sure we're covered. Truly summer's almost gone.

But there's something exciting and hopeful about all of this. And I don't just mean the second full paycheck coming in (although that really will be nice). But it's like our little family has reached a kind of milestone. Starting Monday, Sam and Jane will go to school together three days a week.

Jane has already starting referring to "my school," which Samson --- ever the Martinet --- never fails to correct her on, as he doesn't think it's her school until she actually attends. [He's apparently a real stickler for matriculation.]

Still, we're ready with supplies (how many glue sticks can one child possibly need?) and lunch bags and crib sheets and spare clothes and all the other things one can possibly fit into a 3-foot high by 18-inch-wide cubby.

So there's no true point to this post other than to mark the passage of time, the impending fall ritual that we are all now part of , and to wonder --- albeit in a not very original way --- where all the time has gone. Not just the summer, which is always fleeting, but the years. How is it possible that sweet Jane is ready for school? And when did Samson become a "big kid"? I can still clearly remember his first day in this brave new preschool world.