Last year at this time,

The Tribe started school today, sigh. It's funny how you can get so busy counting down days you hardly notice they are passing by. In a sense we were all ready to get back to structure, but like all things, you really tend to miss them most when they are gone. I love summer. I always think I'll like a clean house with The Tribe around less, but a clean house is just that. It's not giggles and hugs and bugs and bruises, fights and experiments, dirt and playing soccer with a water melon on the living room floor. (they almost broke me on that one-especially since the watermelon splitting didn't stop the game-it just made it even)

Hyphen Girl wanted her hair curled for the first day of class, so I sat this morning with the curling iron, forming ringlets in my teenagers hair, wistfully thinking how I hadn't done this since she was a five year old cutie with natural curls and a penchant for twisting them into knots that could only be removed with scissors, and therefore needed the help of a curling iron to get each of the "strands" to curl with it's neighbors. Now instead of, "are we done yet" and "sit still I don't want to burn you", it's a cyclone of converstion that whirls around boys and friends, classes and "Lost" (our recent media addiciton) and clothes and soccer.

"Aaahh, does it get any better than having your hair done?"

Not for me, not on this day.

And I realized that no matter how I get myself ready emotionally for this day, it just tugs at your heart to watch you kids grow older. So, they all posed on the front porch for the annual first day pic, and then piled into the car, two forgetting their lunches on the dining room floor, and we carpooled off to school.

HG is dropped first, I walked her upstairs and it was all I could do to keep from admonishing her teacher to take good care of her this year. She will, and I know this, but that's my baby there.

Then it's over to the elementary campus to drop the reluctant Soapinator and the "Oh Yea!" "School's here" SLJ.
Buck Naked Boy starts class tomorrow, and he.....can't......wait......!!!!! SLJ and I organized his desk, which of course made me feel better (he still needs his mom's help a little) and we were off. I encountered a cluster of teary eyed moms on the way out, so we went to breakfast and commiserated over latte's. I chatted with a running friend I hadn't seen over the summer and we made plans to run Friday.

Last year at this time I was thinking that, next year at this time I might be staring down the short end of a training schedule enroute to an Ironman race. Next year at this time when we go to IMmoo, it will be to watch some amazing blog friends compete, and it will be different. Next year at this time leaving the kids at school won't be so strange because I will have a larger goal to focus on. Last year I was only partly right. I do have a lot of training to tackle. I do have 18 hours a week with no little Tribettes around in which to accomplish that training.

It was still strange. Always will be I suspect.

Because while being an Ironman is a goal for this year, being a mom is forever.