Down Hill

This morning two groggy girls, one eager Mom and a sleepy Dad are up preparing to start the second half of the school year. Actually we have about two more weeks in the first semester, but for some reason after the holidays it always feels like we are on a downhill slope towards the end of the school year. The end of the year train is pulling out of the station and everyone on board has different emotions about it.

The perspective of the slope we are on is different depending on who you are. If you are Aly, you are preparing for the final few months of your senior year. There are scholarship exams at colleges, plays at the school and classes to make her way through to graduate. In addition there will be Prom dress shopping, Senior Prom in the spring, and finally graduation. Also included in the final months of high school is the college decision. We are still waiting on two schools to wave their magic wand and let us know if she is excepted or not and then she will have to decide where she would like to go spend the next four years of her life.

If you are Avery, you are just happy. There are no major decisions this year except for whether or not to work on your driving skills. Avery turns sixteen in the spring and I would like nothing more than for her to finish her practice driving hours so that she can take her driving test and get her driver's license. I have encouraged, threatened, offered bribes and acted like it is her problem not mine and nothing has worked, so I am now going to my fallback position of letting it go. Avery will drive someday, she will have to. When she does drive, it will be her choice and her energy behind the wheel of the car. There is no room for two people behind the wheel of a car, so other than having her drive when she needs to be somewhere, I have to just back off.

Mark is diligently working on finding a new job. He has redone his resume and he is visiting recruiters. Mark is doing everything he can to get back to work and out of this house full of woman. It is refreshing to have him home more, but I know he would like to get back to work. The truth is he has been under so much stress with his old job that this break has been good for him. His shoulders are not so knotted and he is much more relaxed then he has been in a very long time. That being said, he is going nuts because he likes working and he also knows that I would like to paint my basement, so the sooner he finds work the better.

These next few months will fly by. Hopefully there will be a resolution to the disagreements over my Mom's estate, but I am steady at the helm and prepared to honor her wishes "come hell or high water" as my Mom used to say. I will be traveling to college campuses for exams and shopping for Prom dresses, applauding at Choir concerts and school plays. I will also be a passenger in the car that my youngest is driving and I will be cheering on my husband as he finds a new job. Something tells me that my hill will have a steeper slant then anyone else's. That of course is my perspective and it will be different for each of us as we make our way down hill.