Happy New Year!!

Back to school time really is the New Year - I mean I know we celebrate it on January 1st, but that decision was made long before organized schooling.  :)

So, I woke all the kids up early this morning to make sure they would be tired and ready for bed tonight - 5:45 and 6:50 (depending on which kid you are) is gonna come early.  They have all of their school supplies loaded into brand new back packs - new shoes and school clothes ready to go.  They are feeling a lot older than they did a mere 3 months ago when they were still a "baby" in that "younger grade."

It's funny, I remember all those feelings like they were yesterday.  School is such a big and significant part of a kid's life.  We give it all of the necessary focus around here, and yet there are times when I want to downplay it just a little.  Don't get me wrong, I understand how important education is - in fact, my husband is working on his master's degree as we speak.  It's just that, I don't want my kids to feel defined by their school experience.  They are so much more than how well they do in school.  Or let's just be real - they are so much more than how popular they are in school.

For whatever reason, I always understood that.  I was pretty shy during my growing up years, I know that's hard to believe, but it's true.  I was never a member of the "in" crowd.  I wasn't disliked in school, I was just kind of invisible.  But, I knew.  I knew that it didn't matter because as soon as I graduated, the little hierarchy that exists inside the walls of a school building wouldn't have any bearing on my life.

And I was right.

Soon after I graduated, I was accepted into and began to travel with a touring dance company.  It was serious travel, 11 months out of the year.  I got to go to Canade, Europe, Singapore, Cuba...performed at the World's Fair, the Olympic Village and countless arenas and theatres across America.  It was an amazing time in my life.  Then, I went to Bible school, got married and had 5 wonderful kids.

It now matters less than nothing what those kids in school thought, or didn't think, of me.   I want my kids to go to school, to do their best, to get a good education.  And to realize that school is just a small part of their vast and promising life.  :)