The clock just clicked over to 7:54 a.m. and I sit alone at the kitchen counter planning my day. It's a pretty average Monday (tennis carpool, grocery store for basics, Costco for bulk items, Kramer's for special stuff, playdate/thunderdome followed by family dinner) but something feels off.
It's now 8 a.m.. I kick into a higher gear - answering emails, preparing breakfast and sharing a few memes with my mom bruhs - but the silence is unusual. Deafening, even. I'm sliding scrambled eggs and waffles onto plates when I finally hear stirring on the second floor. I flick my wrist to reveal the time: It's 8:11.
Did my kids REALLY decide to start sleeping in RIGHT before school starts? They sure as heck did - which can only mean all heck is about to break loose.
I've been a parent for just shy of eight years but a quick call to my own mother confirms my suspicions: This is the calm before the storm. I remember it from my own childhood: Final vacation days were always simultaneously slow and fast, lazy pool mornings and popsicle-fueled afternoons juxtaposed with evenings of frantic storehopping for the last TrapperKeeper. The vital questions in my life then (Which neon windsuit is first-day worthy? Are we one-strapping or two-strapping backpacks this year? Will my brother and I be allowed to get the laser backdrop for our school portraits?) have now been replaced with the more pressing thoughts I'm sure plagued my parents. (Will there be enough time to make two healthyish lunches every morning? Is this my day for soccer carpool? Just how unhinged will we look running down the street to beat the late bell?)
"Have kids," they said.
This year is going to be A LOT but to be perfectly honest, I'm pumped for the changes ahead. Yes, our fall schedule is straight-up bananas. Sure, we have some marathon days ahead. Indeed, we'll be having dinner at either 4 p.m. or 7 p.m. This reality may take some getting used, to but with kindergarten behind us, this marks a new era: Both of my boys will be in school all day every day. They can't wait to reconnect with friends, learn new things and dominate the gaga ball pits and I can't wait for, well, diving into everything years of choppy half-day schedules have prevented me from accomplishing.
Friends have asked what I'll do with my reacquired time and my answer has been perhaps an overconfident,
"What won't I do?"
Whether it's completing long-shelved home improvement projects, ramping up freelance work, increased PTO participation, travel paddle or the relative self-care of a dental appointment, I'm here for it - but in this moment, I'll savor the fleeting calm while I sip my still-hot tea. Ahhhhh.
Well, that was short-lived: Brush those teeth and find your shoes, dudes. We're wheels up in five!
- Lex Silberberg of Hinsdale is a former contributing columnist. Readers can email her at [email protected].
