The Last Go Around- Senior Year
Of all the things I remember from my childhood, many of the significant ones come from senior year of high school. It was the year that marked "adult-eve;" that time right before we became fully responsible for ourselves. It was the end of the norms we developed as kindergartners; where going to school became our job.
I remember my first day of senior year of high school. I had plans, big plans. I had just come off a great summer. Richard Marx, Michael Jackson, and Cheap Trick had all had huge hits that summer. Guns N' Roses and LL Cool J were blaring regularly on my cassette player in my $400, 1980 rustbucket Toyota Tercel. Life was good.
I knew I had to successfully negotiate the schoolyear but my thoughts (like all my classmates) were on what came after the schoolyear ended. This would be the last year I would spend around the group of people I considered my extended family. I would end this year shuffling up to a stage while pomp-and-circumstance played in the background and as I received my diploma, I would come off the other side of the stage a man.
Fast forward to Saturday, August 30, 2014. My youngest son is about to begin his senior year after the Labor Day holiday. This one feels different to me than when my older son graduated because this is it for his mom and I, as much as it is for my son. I have spent his entire life talking-up senior year. It was such a special year for me and I want him to soak it all in. Senior year comes once in a lifetime and I want him to make as many memories this year as he can.
I am exciting and terrified to experience this year with him. It ends in a mandatory milestone for both of us. He will be off to adulthood and we will be off to an empty-nest. For my friends who have already experienced this milestone, my concerns may me much-ado about nothing. It comes for all of us who have children at one point or another and inevitably I know we will be just fine. But it doesn't change the fact that at this moment, it is a scary prospect to imagine a home without children, and in particular a home without schoolchildren.
I step tentatively forward toward The Last Go-Around, my son's senior year. I am anxious, happy, sad, and a little sick to my stomach at the prospect. I am so proud of him for all his accomplishments thus far and recognize he is infinitely more prepared and conscious of the significance of senior year than I ever was. He is far more intelligent and ready for life after his senior year than I was as well.
Life moves forward whether we are ready for it or not; in this case life seems to be barreling forward a warp speed. I feel selfish for worrying about how his senior year affects me but it is only because his journey has not been his alone; we as a family have been traveling this road together and we as a family will be forever changed by it.
I am so happy for Nathan and can't wait to watch him make new memories and inch ever closer to graduation day. I will be gushing over his accomplishments regularly so if you don't wanna hear it, this is a perfect time to stop notifications from me :). This is my boy after all and I will celebrate him unapologetically.
Congrats to all my friends who have children starting school. I look forward to your posts about your kids and in celebrating their big moments. It is going to be a great year!
I remember my first day of senior year of high school. I had plans, big plans. I had just come off a great summer. Richard Marx, Michael Jackson, and Cheap Trick had all had huge hits that summer. Guns N' Roses and LL Cool J were blaring regularly on my cassette player in my $400, 1980 rustbucket Toyota Tercel. Life was good.
I knew I had to successfully negotiate the schoolyear but my thoughts (like all my classmates) were on what came after the schoolyear ended. This would be the last year I would spend around the group of people I considered my extended family. I would end this year shuffling up to a stage while pomp-and-circumstance played in the background and as I received my diploma, I would come off the other side of the stage a man.
Fast forward to Saturday, August 30, 2014. My youngest son is about to begin his senior year after the Labor Day holiday. This one feels different to me than when my older son graduated because this is it for his mom and I, as much as it is for my son. I have spent his entire life talking-up senior year. It was such a special year for me and I want him to soak it all in. Senior year comes once in a lifetime and I want him to make as many memories this year as he can.
I am exciting and terrified to experience this year with him. It ends in a mandatory milestone for both of us. He will be off to adulthood and we will be off to an empty-nest. For my friends who have already experienced this milestone, my concerns may me much-ado about nothing. It comes for all of us who have children at one point or another and inevitably I know we will be just fine. But it doesn't change the fact that at this moment, it is a scary prospect to imagine a home without children, and in particular a home without schoolchildren.
I step tentatively forward toward The Last Go-Around, my son's senior year. I am anxious, happy, sad, and a little sick to my stomach at the prospect. I am so proud of him for all his accomplishments thus far and recognize he is infinitely more prepared and conscious of the significance of senior year than I ever was. He is far more intelligent and ready for life after his senior year than I was as well.
Life moves forward whether we are ready for it or not; in this case life seems to be barreling forward a warp speed. I feel selfish for worrying about how his senior year affects me but it is only because his journey has not been his alone; we as a family have been traveling this road together and we as a family will be forever changed by it.
I am so happy for Nathan and can't wait to watch him make new memories and inch ever closer to graduation day. I will be gushing over his accomplishments regularly so if you don't wanna hear it, this is a perfect time to stop notifications from me :). This is my boy after all and I will celebrate him unapologetically.
Congrats to all my friends who have children starting school. I look forward to your posts about your kids and in celebrating their big moments. It is going to be a great year!
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