There IS A Gem At The End

Oh hello there, friend!

Uh, I don't know...it's just been like super crazy around here. In the summer, I was so looking forward to back to school. You know, the whole organization thing and the schedule and the structure. It was just so appealing to me. Any free moment during the summer I would relish in because I knew *this* was just around the corner. And here we are, with the school and the making lunches and the earlier mornings and the soccer practices and the soccer games and the homework and the school forms and the work and well, here we are...

I love the schedule, and the organization that it requires. I am totally on top of it, honey. We moms have to be, don't we? For it to work right, for us not to go insane, for our kids to be happy. We have to pick the clothes out and make the lunches the night before so we're not running around like a banshee in the morning looking for a damn pair of socks. Or house keys. I mean, those things have legs sometimes, I swear it's true. And it's any one's guess where Q decides to take off his running shoes on any given day.

Mornings here are fun. And by fun, I mean totally not fun. My alarm clock goes off somewhere around 5:30 and then I usually hit snooze 3 times, sometimes more. I start to eliminate non-essential parts of my morning routine...you know...like showering. Who needs to shower like every single day? I don't know, but not me if it means that I get to sleep for nine more minutes. Then I get ready in the dark (so as to not wake anyone up). At 6:30, I become Q's alarm clock, and just like his momma...he does not like mornings. So, I wake him up 3 or 4 times. I start all nice, "Wakey, wakey eggs and bakey!!!" and "Rise and Shine". Then I beg, then I bargain, then I pull the sheets off the bed, turn on all the lights and threaten to leave him at home. Of course we all know that they're idle threats, so the bargaining works way better.

I won't bore you with the rest of my day, but it includes a lot of sitting in traffic, cursing the bridge I must travel to get to work, it includes a lot of yawning and it includes a whole lot of mail. I get two nights a week where my little love is at his dad's and Wednesdays just happens to be one of them (hence the blogging!! Side note: my computer has been decidedly difficult lately. It decides to not connect to the Internet, which is vital to blogging, really. Sometimes, it decides to connect and then I get all excited and then it disconnects for no apparent reason. Simply put...it's driving me crazy...) And I went three days (!!) without nail polish on, just because I didn't have time to let it dry. I know. It was tragic.

We've had a tough go of grade two. Poor Q. He was so happy in a grade 2/3 split class and then one week into school he was moved into a 1/2 split and his little ego took a bit of a beating. His teacher is...well, mean. She scares me, for crying out loud. She doesn't really interact with her kids, there is nothing on the walls. She might as well be a high school teacher. Or a warden. Not a grade 2 teacher, that's for sure. Q has been begging me to home school him. So we've decided to give the teacher a chance. A month long chance. Maybe she's really scared of all the new kids, wondering if they'll like her. Maybe she's sad about something else that's going on in her life. Maybe she's misunderstood. We're giving her a try. Both of us...me and Q.

He's terrified he's going to get into trouble. He worries about things that most likely will never, ever happen. He's looking for an easy out. He's got an awesome opportunity to learn this year...not just reading and writing, but there's an opportunity to grow as a person. I'm really so excited for him, to be truthful. How many people get this chance so early in life to become a better person? Of course, I realize it's my job to help him grow and not just hide under a blanket. Some adults I know still want to just hide under the blankets when something bad happens. I'm using this as best I can - how happiness is a choice, worrying changes nothing, looking for the best in people, our actions affect those around us. I don't know if he really understands all that right now, but I really hope that if I say it enough one day he'll just be like, "ohhhhh, I get it...." If it's my mantra, I want to make sure it becomes his too. It's the gem I give him, and I pray he recognizes its value when he's a grown man making his own choices.

And now, as promised...the Gem...