The 1st Day Of School & My Honeymoon With Freedom

It's finally here.  The first day of school.  Today I packed three lunches, took pictures on the front porch, gave three great big hugs....

And then barely slowed down my minivan before I hit the "open" button on the automatic doors and sent them all - all of them - for their first full day of school.

I can't believe I'm the same mother who cried on the last day of school last spring.  Who saw the beginning of this school year as an end to something (which it was) and not the beginning.

The beginning of the first series of full free days in over 10 years.

It helped that my kids were as excited about school as they are when they run down the stairs to see what Santa has brought them on Christmas morning (I'm choosing to ignore the fact that they were that happy to get the heck out of here and focus on the fact that they love school).  I know this excitement will be fleeting and that while we were 10 minutes early for the drop-off lane this morning, by next week they will all be dragging their feet and we'll be 10 minutes late.

I don't care, as long as we get there.

It also helped my own state of mind that I hadn't been away from one or all of my children in probably about a month.  Someone has always been with me.  So the second they were out of the car, I turned up the radio to music that I wanted to listen to and hit the road.

And what did I do, you ask?  (I know you didn't, but I'm going to tell you anyway.)

1.  My first stop was the gym.  My excitement escalated when I realized that I could head straight to the women's locker room without stopping at the kids center and I wanted to pat all of those women on the back who were struggling to get their toddlers from the parking lot to the day care and say, "It's okay.  Look at me!  No kids!  You'll get there." 

Even though the treadmill looked at me like, "Who the hell are you?" I gave it a hug and told him it was nice to be back.  He forgave me and then complimented me on my new tennis shoes.  The weights were less forgiving and I think it's going to take some time for us to get back to our old relationship.

2.  After leaving the gym, I couldn't help but notice that I had left just in time to run into my favorite local antique shop, the one I had abandoned 2 months ago.  I pealed into the parking lot so that I could spend 20 uninterrupted minutes wandering around breakable things, just because I could.

I then bought 2 pieces of jewelry I didn't need and I have no idea when I'll wear them just so I could watch my credit card being used without someone standing next to me saying, "How come I didn't get anything?"

(Incidentally, the owner of the antique store told me that she thought about doing something special today for all of the mothers who had just dropped off their kids at school.  I suggested a 20% off sale with a Bloody Mary bar.  She thought that was a good idea.)

3.  I ran into a department store to buy a birthday present and noticed two things: 

             ~More mothers struggling with toddlers as they were desperately trying to buy themselves underwear that they will realize when they get home are the wrong size because they were so distracted by the screaming child. 

            ~Women who looked like me, sweaty and disheveled after their workout this morning and flipping through racks of clothing, not because they needed anything but just because they could.

4.  I went to the bathroom which I know is TMI, but I was so excited to do it in peace, I just had to share it with someone.  For the first time in over 2 months, I was able to go without someone screaming, "Mom?  MOM?  MOM????" 25 times the moment my butt hit the porcelain.  I'm sure that my neighbors were relieved that this morning passed without me screaming at the top of my lungs, "I'm in the BATHROOM!" with all of my windows open.

5.  I took a shower without being scalded by someone in my house who has impeccable timing and never fails to flush just as I'm rinsing out my shampoo.  This is something I know I should correct, but right now I'm just happy when they remember to do it. 

Which brings me to now.  My first day of freedom has started off with a bang and now it's time to buckle down and get a little work done before the herd is back.  It's 2:00 and everything is still quiet.

Too quiet.

I may have to go turn the TV on in the other room for a little background noise.