Five Finds Friday (last first day, a giant sweatshirt and tomatoes)
Oh it’s Friday?
I didn’t know.
funny
I was opening my car door and I noticed the side pocket. What’s in that pocket made me laugh – and kind of offers a snapshot of my actual life.
A knife. Because – safety and preparation. You just never know what the future holds.
Bubbles. Because – fun.
Lotion. (That almost never gets used). Because – in theory I’d like to have soft skin and smell nice. In reality, I just can’t seem to make those things a priority, even when I put the lotion directly in the car.
Cleaning Wipes. I’d say because of the current situation we’re all wading through. But more accurately these are leftovers from our road trip out west earlier this summer. Also – seldom used. Because, again. In theory – I’d like to tidy my car and my life as I move along. In reality – I don’t make it a priority.
fashionable
He’s 11 and he keeps a glass of his own on our shelf. He feels invested in our family and we feel invested in his.
For my birthday he pondered and thought and planned and decided that since I work from home that what I most needed was a gigantic sweatshirt to keep me warm and comfortable at all times – a Comfy. (That’s the actual name brand.)
And. What’s more – he thought it was such a fantastic idea that when he was ordering one for me, he ordered one for himself.
And this is why I am now the proud owner of a matching Comfy with Matthew.
It’s a fabulous gift and he’s a fabulous human.
faithful
I wish this was not such a hard concept to enforce in my own life.
flavorful
The bounty of our “community” garden has been a gift.
And tomatoes are just so beautiful.
feels
We started school.
It’s a bit of what I call a soft start, since the kids don’t have any of their Meadowlark Collective classes until September. But we fired up math. (Calculus? Yuck.) And we started history – beginning back with those Egyptians this year. Everyone’s reading a novel. (The Cay. Maniac Magee. The Count of Monte Cristo. I Know Why the Caged Birds Sing. Seven League Boots.)
We’re doing chores and we’re studying current events and we’re filling in those timelines and WE ARE TIRED.
We’re not even doing all the subjects and we’ve been mostly finished by noon or early afternoon and still – WE ARE TIRED.
It’s just as we suspected. These last five months of inactivity have made us work weaklings. (I’m talking about my house, I don’t know about anyone else.) The barest of efforts, the merest of interactions with the outside world, and we’re all exhausted.
What? We did math for 20 minutes AND we ran to the store? We better watch six movies to rest up for the next 20 minutes of work.
Getting up on time. Putting on kind of regular clothes. Working part time jobs. Remembering what the parts of speech are. It’s all too much apparently for my children.
And. I’m all tired again from working my job AND teaching school. What a delightfully long break we had. (Except it wasn’t actually a break and it wasn’t all that delightful.)
Anyway.
What I was actually going to say, before this downward spiral, was that we started school this week.
And I took a photo.
Because this is the last first day of school that Wildwood Halls of Ivy will have FIVE students.
And, despite all that exhaustion and all that dumb Calculus and all that dumb waking up on time, I’m sad.
I’m sad that my little nest is growing smaller in many ways. I’m sad that there are so many lasts this year. I’m sad that my sweet London is growing up and graduating this year. Even though I’m really excited and happy and proud and all those competing feelings.
I have a lot of feelings about this last first day of school at the table photo.
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