Author: Christine

Jason went back to school today. Not only the first day of 7th grade (where has the time gone?!?) but the first day back in the public school system. This summer, we made the decision to leave the Catholic school he has been attending since the middle of 4th grade. Not an easy choice.

Jason actually became more excited about school once we made the choice to change. When he arrived home this afternoon, he actually talked about his first day of school. Not the usual routine of us asking questions and he answering them if we’re lucky – no, he actually sat on the couch and talked to me about his day, and when Mike got home from work he went over it all again.

He told us that as far as schools go, this is the best school ever. He seems excited about the opportunity to make new friends. He has even talked himself about having a fresh start. I can honestly understand. Sometimes, a fresh start can be a fabulous thing.

His new school is much larger than his old school, and they didn’t have his schedule ready on Monday so we couldn’t help him find all of his classrooms. I went with him this morning to pick up his schedule, and I was relieved to see that we got all of the classes that we requested. I made sure he had the map that they gave us at orientation, but still… as I left the school and he headed off to his first class, I was nervous.

Actually, I was nervous all day. I’ve said all along that my big fear about this change was the “small fish in a big pond” issue.

This brings me to my happy moment of the day. Originally, he was going to take the bus home at the end of the day. He had asked me to pick him up, but I told him to take the bus. “Mom guilt” started to settle in as the day went on, so I hopped in the car right before school got out to pick him up. I walked up just as he was walking out to get on the bus, and asked him if he wanted a ride. He said no. He wanted to take the bus. He did ask that I wait to leave until he found the bus, so I waited and watched, and off he went. As he boarded the bus, I left and went back to my car to drive home. He arrived home shortly after I did.

Sure, he told me no and he rode the bus home. He left Mom behind. But at that moment, I was very proud of him and truly happy. He had a great first day, and knowing that was my happiest moment. Something tells me that we’re going to have a good year.

I have no less than 25 mosquito bites right now after doing yard work this weekend. It might be closer to 30, actually – I lost count. I think that buying stock in Benadryl would be a wise thing.

Damn mosquitos.

Today had great moments of light hearted glee interspersed with some really sad news about a dear friend and her family’s crisis. It made me feel really guilty about how happy I was feeling about some of the other things in my day. Funny how sometimes you are reminded that while you think you may have troubles, they really could be so much worse, isn’t it?

But that’s the point of finding the positive moments in the day, so here are some of mine. I’m not going to pick just one. (I’m a Libra, what can I say?)

– Being able to be there for a friend in her time of need, and while words could not help make anything better, being able to talk to her and hopefully help ease some of her pain.

– Realizing this afternoon that I have gone through the whole day without a headache. Wheeee! It’s nice to be clear-thinking.

– Having Jason request “Father-Son time” so that he could shop with Mike to find a few more shirts for school. Sure, as his Mom, I wanted to be a part of it too, but it’s fabulous to see him get along so well with Mike. I went off and browsed on my own so that they could have some time together checking out the shirts. (I still said “no!” to the “I See Stupid People” with Homer Simpson. Some things are just not appropriate for school.)

– Signing up to be a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator under Kathy yesterday and signing up for a domain for it today! SassyStamps.com, coming soon to a browser near you!

– Pizza for dinner. I’m about to go back to the South Beach thing, hard core, so pizza was a nice “end of summer” treat.

– Talking to friends today. After the heavy moments, the light-hearted ones were nice. I’m looking forward to my plans for later this week!

Because I have had many people ask, I thought I would share the update on the status of my iPod. My order now says that it is “In Progress 3” as of 8/10/2004 2:20:00 PM. By the way, I went for the 20 gb white iPod instead of the mini, since they are so hard to find.

Unfortunately, my plan has gone wrong because the FAQ page now says, “Please note that all orders that are in In Progress 3 have been back ordered. Our supplier is currently out of stock & we expect orders to start going out in about a week. An email will be sent to you once your item has been shipped.”

So, it’s coming. Eventually. But not today.