(theo on the first day of kindergarten… obviously he couldn’t read yet as he agreed to wear that shirt)

i am a crier. i cry about happy things, i cry about sad things, i cry when things change, i ALWAYS cry on the first day of school. (i do NOT cry when people get hurt, even my own children… then i laugh, VERY inappropriately, which has caused a fair bit of upset.)

last week was the LAST first day of school for my son, as he is now a senior in high school. so i cried. i have been dreading his eventual departure from childhood from the second he was born and now i am horrified that we only have a few months until he graduates and hopefully goes to college (i cannot believe how stressful the application process is now!) i have offered to go with him (depending on where he lands - i’d like to be near an ocean.) i think i would be a terrific roommate as i am very clean and i like to sleep a lot and i am happy to provide nice bedding, the little fridge and the popcorn popper.

i just don’t understand how this went so quickly. seventeen years of doing anything else would feel like a REALLY long time and somehow his whole life has gone by in a blink. all of the grandmas at target and the supermarket warned me to ENJOY it because of this very phenomenon and i am embarrassed to say that i was frequently rolling my eyes (inwardly, not right at them) because maybe i hadn’t slept through the night in six months, or maybe he’d thrown up all over the car earlier or maybe he’d smeared chocolate on the sofa (MESSES never go over very well with me.) now i just want to start over, lack of sleep, barfing, dirt and all. so if you see him around looking a little deflated and soggy it’s because i’m squeezing him (and crying on him) as much as i can until we head off to university together.

(in the kindergarten line right behind his friend, river… they are STILL dear friends!)

(all ready for first grade!)

(theo and his dad on the first day of second grade)

(theo escorted lucy to the kinder fence on the first day of fourth)

(theo with his fifth grade teachers)

(first day of middle school - theo gets his casey ID)

(ninth grade was during the pandemic so he started high school in his bedroom… he wouldn’t let me take a picture, but this is what he looked like)

(tenth grade in the backyard - i promised i wouldn’t post his face)

(senior year… HAY SEUS!)

(the little one last week on the first day of eighth… she still lets us paparazzi)

(darling hank is home schooled… we were working on relaxing! x0x)