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I'm sitting on my funky blue Ikea couch surrounded by piles of folded and unfolded laundry, one of my last tasks before "The School Year" begins. I've been the parent of school aged children for the last 15 years. Funky Monkeys! Josh is entering his last year of highschool at Genesis NE. I hope this year is one of peace and growth for him. Oh how I've struggled in the past in parenting him. Post apron cutting and him living with his dad full time, I find I'm much more at peace and better able to be his advocate than when we were more enmeshed. I have worries in the back of my mind about how life will change for him once he is fully in the adult system, vs the adolescent system he's been a part of (mental health/social services wise). I've not looked into it much YET.
Zea turns 11 tomorrow and she has most certainly entered the pre-teen phase. I don't suppose I will recognize her for the next 12-13 years. Sigh. I will do my best. She's a phenomenal young person and I can't wait to see who she is at 25. I'm not a fan of the teens. Who am I kidding? I can barely tolerate most teens. Ugh.
Soren is 8 and is still in the easy phase. Oh how I relish it! Being my 3rd and presumably my last (never say never, though I do not have any plans for more children...they come into one's life in more ways than via one's gametes), I've relished him in a different way than the other two. And I sure get called out on it! I've been trying to let up on the "baby" thing for quite some time. He's no baby. Not for years and years. Oh dear.
The two youngers start school at Windsor House tomorrow. I have intentions of walking the 4 blocks in the moring to the bus stop, but knowing me, we'll likely leave late and have to drive to one of the numerous stops in our East Van neighbourhood. They'll eagerly get on the bus and off they'll go to our home away from home. I LOVE that I found and chose WH as our school community. I LOVE that Helen has started the Learnery so that, potentially, WH can be in my life as long as I want it (or they want it). Growing up in church community, I wanted something like that for my kids. Church just never worked out for me. Not even the UUs even though I still consider myself a non practicing member. Ha!
In my house, that leaves me. I'll go home from dropping the two youngers and have a coffee and finish any home care tasks I have set out for myself. On Wednesday is when it all begins for me. Midwifery school at UBC begins on Wednesday with Imagine Day/orientation. It looks fairly boring as far as content, but perhaps I'll glean some useful info. Most importantly, I meet all of my cohort (15 of us instead of 16 it looks like) in one place. 14 of us have been on facebook for the last few months. Who is elusive 15? or even 16 (though my last email to our class showed only 15 emails).
I'm so excited to be doing the thing I set out for myself careerwise eons ago (ok 10 years ago). I knew I wanted to be a midwife 6 months into my pregnancy with Zea, but I also knew I couldn't bear or didn't want to bear missing out on their childhoods. I wanted to be there; oh and not to mention the metric tonnes of shit I had to slog through before I'd be ready for school. I'm incredibly proud of myself and I feel worthy of my place in the class, though I worried as I was first on the waitlist instead of once of the lucky admitted right off the bat. Even with all of these buzzy feelings of pride and anticipation, I am sensing the reserved part of me as well. I tend to sit back, quietly getting a sense for "how things are" before I jump in to either 1)set a slightly different course or 2) support what is already going on in the most efficient and useful way. I can be a leader, but will I have to be? We'll see. I'm not the one who is going to jump in at the get go, though to be sure, when I do jump in, it is with both feet in the deep end.
Let's go!
Zea turns 11 tomorrow and she has most certainly entered the pre-teen phase. I don't suppose I will recognize her for the next 12-13 years. Sigh. I will do my best. She's a phenomenal young person and I can't wait to see who she is at 25. I'm not a fan of the teens. Who am I kidding? I can barely tolerate most teens. Ugh.
Soren is 8 and is still in the easy phase. Oh how I relish it! Being my 3rd and presumably my last (never say never, though I do not have any plans for more children...they come into one's life in more ways than via one's gametes), I've relished him in a different way than the other two. And I sure get called out on it! I've been trying to let up on the "baby" thing for quite some time. He's no baby. Not for years and years. Oh dear.
The two youngers start school at Windsor House tomorrow. I have intentions of walking the 4 blocks in the moring to the bus stop, but knowing me, we'll likely leave late and have to drive to one of the numerous stops in our East Van neighbourhood. They'll eagerly get on the bus and off they'll go to our home away from home. I LOVE that I found and chose WH as our school community. I LOVE that Helen has started the Learnery so that, potentially, WH can be in my life as long as I want it (or they want it). Growing up in church community, I wanted something like that for my kids. Church just never worked out for me. Not even the UUs even though I still consider myself a non practicing member. Ha!
In my house, that leaves me. I'll go home from dropping the two youngers and have a coffee and finish any home care tasks I have set out for myself. On Wednesday is when it all begins for me. Midwifery school at UBC begins on Wednesday with Imagine Day/orientation. It looks fairly boring as far as content, but perhaps I'll glean some useful info. Most importantly, I meet all of my cohort (15 of us instead of 16 it looks like) in one place. 14 of us have been on facebook for the last few months. Who is elusive 15? or even 16 (though my last email to our class showed only 15 emails).
I'm so excited to be doing the thing I set out for myself careerwise eons ago (ok 10 years ago). I knew I wanted to be a midwife 6 months into my pregnancy with Zea, but I also knew I couldn't bear or didn't want to bear missing out on their childhoods. I wanted to be there; oh and not to mention the metric tonnes of shit I had to slog through before I'd be ready for school. I'm incredibly proud of myself and I feel worthy of my place in the class, though I worried as I was first on the waitlist instead of once of the lucky admitted right off the bat. Even with all of these buzzy feelings of pride and anticipation, I am sensing the reserved part of me as well. I tend to sit back, quietly getting a sense for "how things are" before I jump in to either 1)set a slightly different course or 2) support what is already going on in the most efficient and useful way. I can be a leader, but will I have to be? We'll see. I'm not the one who is going to jump in at the get go, though to be sure, when I do jump in, it is with both feet in the deep end.
Let's go!
