Grown-Up Goodness: Honoring Time

There they are. Three backpacks ready to head off to school tomorrow. My three little people leave the roost together to begin preschool, kindergarten, and second grade adventures. They are excited, slightly nervous, and really, really ready to go.

I am their mom. I'm a former teacher with a zest for learning. I'm an artist who sees the beauty in this moment. And I'm still a little bit of an emotional wreck.

                       

We're coming to the close of all things summer around here. I'll be changing up my editorial calendar to reflect some new themes for Fall. Not quite sure what I'm moving onto next...but some wonderful things are headed this way.

I've always considered this time of year one of the most hopeful. I've been tied to the school calendar my whole life, and August means the return of something new. A guarantee of a fresh start.

And yet, the start of one thing means the close of another.

As I (nagged) told my children yesterday, this is the last summer that they will be 7, 5, and 2...enjoy it...enjoy each other...right as you are now.

And as the words came spluttering out, I wondered how much I'm heeding my own words? This has been my summer, too, with its goals, wants, successes, failures, and missed opportunities. There is so much I still would have loved to have crammed into these weeks. Time has been wasted on needless worries.

And so then insert helpful advice sent along from a friend...

I hope these words offer you a warm smile, a little relief, and a sense of peace as they did for me.

I believe it's very important that we honor the beginnings and the endings in life. And not just the big ones, but the smalls, too (the end of a season, the start of new classes and new projects, the loss of a dream, the birth of new friendships). We have to find time to celebrate them, to feel them, and to reflect upon them, allowing their wisdom to carry us forward into the next stage, the next hurdle, the next adventure.

I'm spending time today honoring all that has been and trying to wrap my head and love around all that has been missed or lost for the sake of the promise and the good.

Now is always the right time, friends. Let's celebrate it together.

XOXO, MJ