8-5, A Freshman? Really?!

Here we go again for round 2.  How can my baby boy possibly be starting high school in 3 days?!  The baby that cried every time Grandpa G. walked in the door wearing a hat (we were at least relieved when we realized it was the hat that freaked him out and not actually Grandpa!).  The toddler who helped grandpa 'plant apples' in the garden (i.e., potatoes, but he insisted they were apples).  The nap-resistor who jumped out of his bed and broke his arm when he was only 2.  The little boy who cried when he got mud on his face even though Uncle Thad tried to convince him that 'mud on your face is cool' and Uncle Thad even smeared some on for effect.  The sneaker who found Grandma G's stash of jelly beans in her sewing room and managed to eat his way through a good portion of them before being found.  The kindergartener who chased me halfway home crying after starting his third school in less than a year.  Oh, the memories you retain as a parent.   One of my most vivid memories was being pregnant with Nikolas on 9/11.  I remember how frightened I was to bring a child into what this crazy world has become.  I thought that I would outgrow that fear as our child grew. But you know, I don't think I have.  As Nikolas enters his last four years of school, I worry about what his future holds in this still crazy world.  Kids Nik's age have seen the world's scariness in the headlines news on a daily basis.  It's sad to think that the words "terrorist"and "suicide bomber" are a part of everyday vocabulary.  These kids have to be resilient, strong-minded and aware.   I feel that they are growing up so much faster than we did.  The competition is fierce and it takes determination to out-know, out-skill and out-think this wickedly smart generation.  No, I do not worry less about this child's future.  As my post yesterday vividly declared:  4 years will pass in the blink of an eye.  But for now, I will ride the tides of confidence that these high schoolers have and trust that everything will be ok.  It's been 14 years and I'm still looking for that darn parenting manual!  Good luck, Nik.  I know you will never enjoy school as much as you enjoy fishing, but someday I hope you'll recognize the importance of work and play!

8-3, Em's First School Pics

Five years ago when Sven and I were discussing pursuing the adoption after five long years of waiting, he made the comment, "it would only be a few years before she would be in kindergarten."  I looked at him as a mother does when you know he knows nothing what it's like to stay home day in and day out changing diapers.  The thought of 'only a few years' of changing diapers, playgroups, toddler tantrums and nap times was daunting seeing how Nik was 10 and becoming more self-sufficient every day.  The bigger picture of having a daughter in our family prevailed and we pursued bringing home a little one to fill that void.  At the time, another few years of waiting seemed relentless.  But in hindsight, thinking how very different our lives would be now had we not waited is monumental.  It is the most important lesson of "good things come to those who wait" that I will ever know.  If I stopped long enough to really think through these past four years, I'd be typing in tears.  How we were blessed to be chosen as Emalie's parents, I will never know.  How Sven's at-the-time logic could have proven to be true, I will never know.  Four years is four years, right?  Wrong.... four years at the academy seemed like a lifetime.  Four years of staying at home learning to know more about our baby girl and enjoying that time with her has passed in the blink of an eye.  God help me, I'm going to be that kindergarten parent bawling my eyes out as I wave goodbye to my baby on that first day of school.  She may be 'only' going to kindergarten, but I swear she's an old-soul and it's not too far out of the realm of my imagination to imagine that first day of college and wondering how all that time had passed in the blink of an eye as well.  Lucky for me, as you can see from the photos below, she's a happy girl who loves to make you smile.  The next question:  in school, will she be the studious child in the first photo..... or the wild class clown depicted in the last photo?  I truly believe this special child can and will be anything she wants to be.... so I guess we'll see!

 

6-26, Hiking Blodgett

It's funny what my memory of hiking up to the Blodgett Lookout was and what it actually is in reality. Midway up the mountain I kept asking myself, "why did I think it was a short, wide, paved path?"  I'm not exactly a flat-lander, but I'm definitely not a fourteener-hiker either (in CO, we have mountains that are over 14,000' high and crazy people--like my husband-- like to hike the 'fourteeners').  The trail was  longer, higher and hotter than I anticipated, but the view at the end was all that I remembered it to be.  The Bitterroot's iconic view of Blodgett canyon is a breath-taking panorama of Montana's backcountry.  It was so wonderful to spend the morning with my family, including my parents and brother, in the beautiful Bitterroot.  As I write this, I'm also deeply worried about the big fire that is spreading through this beautiful area.  I hope they are able to contain it soon-- for when I think of Montana, it is these images I want to see and not the blazes scouring the countryside.  My thoughts and prayers are with everyone back home.