Transition Time

This is a weird transition time for our family. All summer long, we had Jacob home with us. The kids normal bedtime was rarely before 10 or even 11 p.m. Jacob and I usually stayed up until long after midnight (more like 2 or 3 a.m. for me). Then we slept in until about 9 or 10 a.m. and planned day by day how to fill our hours. Soccer, fishing, clamming, dipnetting, bike riding, BBQ's, doing nothing at all, etc., etc. I loved it! Meals were unplanned and unscheduled. Everything was unplanned and unscheduled.

I also love schedules, routines, predictability. I now must have my children in bed no later than 8 p.m. if we're to survive the days. I myself must re-learn to get to bed at a decent hour (last night, I plopped into bed absolutely beat at about 11:00 p.m. - my earliest in many, many months). If I'm going to exercise, I must be up at 5:45 a.m. and out the door by 6:00. I must have breakfast on the table by 7:45 so we can be out the door for school at 8:35. I must get Ziya down for her nap by 1:00 p.m. so she can be awake when it's time to pick Ammon up at 3:30. I must have my refrigerator stocked so I can prep our dinners and have it mostly done before I go pick everybody up. We must eat by 5:30 so we can do baths and bedtime by 7:30 or so. Must, must, must... it's really weird.

I'm torn between wishing my adventurous, carefree, unscheduled, unplanned summer was longer and feeling really glad that school has started and we can get back to our scheduled, predictable life. The conclusion I'm coming to in my somewhat tired brain (it is about 9:30 p.m., after all... getting late on my new schedule) is that I truly am The Luckiest (I put this song back on my playlist... one of my favorites). I get the best of both worlds... and for that, I am thankful!