School started back today.

I walked brother in and stood with him for a few minutes.  I asked him if he wanted me to wait with him or go, and of course he said, “go.”  He has always been so independent when it comes to things like this.  He is not afraid of new or change.  I guess he figures he has been there before and there will be someone he knows or he will make a new friend.

I know it is a good thing, but the first day of school still leaves me with tears in my eyes as I walk alone to the car, knowing that my children are growing up.  I know I could jokingly say they are tears of joy, but in honesty, it is sorrow.  Another year.  Another year older.

Sister started 10th grade today.  No words can discribe my feelings about that.

I took today off, as I usually do on the first day of school.  To me it has always been a day of reflection, a day alone in the house filled with quiet and solitude.  The school year has started - this usually is the only day of rest and solitude I can claim for the next school year.

This morning brother and I were on our way to work, when he asked, “Mom, what would happen if it con… contained?” To which I must magically know what and or who he is talking about. Sorta like him asking me, “Has it been an hour?” to which I must know, an hour since??? Course I don’t know and he usually gets frustrated before he even starts his conversations.

So this morning his contained, was actually a deployed, and he was talking about the airbag. I don’t like him to sit in the front seat because of the airbag, so I have scared him to either a life of fear or back seatdom, for fear it will deploy on him. Anyway, the conversation went on and came around to him asking me if I’ve ever been in an accident or deployed by the airbag. I told him of the worst accident I had been in as a teen and that we didn’t have airbags back then. Of course, he asked about a hundred questions, taking us to what happened, where we hurt, was anyone else hurt, did we go to jail, why is a judge so mean, making good choices, and tickets that have to be paid.

Yes, my sister and I hit a guy on a motorcycle on our way Christmas shopping, he was flying down a hill in the dark with no light, we turned left. He hit us, we hit a telephone pole, we were bumped and bruised pretty bad. He had a broken leg. We went to court, no one went to jail, judges aren’t mean they just uphold the law. If you make bad choices, you have to be willing to pay the consequences… My sister got a ticket.

His next question was, “how much was the ticket?”

“Gosh, I don’t know son that was like 25, um 28 years ago.”

“Whoa, good thing there weren’t dinosaurs back then!”

Good thing son.

Every survival kit should include a sense of humor.
Author Unknown

I’ve always known that I have a warped sense of parenting, but it became very evident this morning on the way to school.

You see, over the weekend Brother got to go spend the night with Big Brother, this was his first time and he was very excited. So excited that they stayed up until 3:00a.m., which wouldn’t have been bad except he then woke up at 7:00 a.m. Sunday, he was really good considering his lack of sleep. He went to bed at 7:00 p.m. and slept the night away. I had to wake him at 7:30 this morning for school.

This morning he was crabby. Not in the whiny, I didn’t get enough sleep crabby, but the six year old grouchies.

So on the way to school this morning we were listening to AirOne, a Christian Rock Station. Every morning they have a silly topic they discuss.

Today it was bubble wrap Monday.

You know Bubble Wrap Crap.

They were asking callers to call in and give some alternative uses for bubble wrap.

A female caller on the line said that she uses bubble wrap as an temporary baby sitter.

Honestly, my first thought was, oh, yeah, you could wrap them up in it. That should hold them for a while.

I kinda faded out to the radio conversation for a moment, thinking of the possibilities. Tape. Big Bubbles. Hum…maybe against the law…..

I faded back into the radio conversation as she was saying that she loves to bring it home because her daughter loves to pop it and it occupies her for hours as she plays with it.

I guess I never thought of that.