School is O U T !!!

Tomorrow is the last day of school for my younger two kids and no one is happier than ME!!

My daughter is getting out of middle school, or as I have come to call it...middle Hell.

My son gets a two and a half month reprieve from his "prison of education" and I get a break from shelling out money hand over foot to the county...$26 a week for lunches, dances and yearbooks and school projects and all they incur.

I told my son a couple of weeks ago as I left the house for work that it was a beautiful Saturday afternoon and I expected him to get out and enjoy the sunshine. My daughter called me when she returned home from a friend's house to inform me that Zach had carried his 36" TV down from his third floor bedroom out into the driveway...had run a drop cord out from the garage and was sitting in a lawn chair playing his PS3 ..."Enjoying the sunshine." I have GOT to be more specific when leaving him instructions! Thank the Lord he will be married one day and the task of shoving him down the path of life will be taken off of my shoulders.

He had the hardest time in middle school. They are so ridiculous with their demands on kids and their petty rules. When Zach had his hair cut into a liberty spike mohawk, the principal had a fit (like Tim and I suggested or even liked it.) There was no policy against it , but it turned into a HUGE issue with the principal and I finally told Zach "You have one more month in middle school, get through it and next year you will be in high school and you will blend right in with all the other freaks and no one will say a word."

Luckily over the summer he shaved his hair off and looked so sweet it made me proud that I had let him make his own decision...took a while, but he came around. Sometimes you have to let your kids make an idiot out of themselves before they realize how wrong they are and correct the problem on their own.

My little "social butterfly" of a girl is on the opposite end of the scale. She is in every group she could join (all with a check needed from me.) Chorus, color guard, year books... the list never ends with her but she has had a grand time and made many, many friends and is making the most of her time in school.

The semi formal 8th grade dance was tonight (another check written) and she was so excited. Her dad dropped her and a girlfriend off at the dance , and the other girl's parents picked them up. I called her from work when she was getting ready and told her to have a good time and NOT to kiss any boys (she did NOT think that was funny but I did.)

She reminds me of myself at that age...relishing every possible moment, attending every function and event and living her thirteen year old life to the fullest.

How can these two kids both be mine? They are such polar opposites...one detests the things about school that the other cherishes.

As crazy as it sounds, I enjoy having them be so different... it kind of balances out and only one of them is constantly needing me to send in a check...the other I have... having to constantly check up on!

Kids are a marvelous adventure. I love my kids and enjoy being around them more than anyone else...my dogs coming in right behind them. To be loved by your child is an extremely satisfying feeling and one that fills my heart every time they say "I love you"...which they do a lot.

They disappoint me , they let me down sometimes, but they always seem to find the way ; Granted they take detours and short cuts...but what is important is that they are good people, they are conscientious and they seem to have retained what I have taught them through out their formative years.

I look forward to spending the summer with them...hoping Zach will be inspired to do better and Massey will be inspired to cost me less.

I don't count on anything...with kids it can all change in a nano second.

I am just glad that I can enjoy this time with them and let them enjoy their youth as they wish. It would be a lot different if I was doing the choosing...but then it wouldn't be "THEIR" life... would it?

I am sure they will both turn out fine...I just hope that one day they will know how much I fretted and worried about their choices and decisions, and appreciate how hard it was for me to keep my big mouth shut as they both rambled down the road to adulthood.

I don't think they know how rocky that road can be, but at least they have a mom to kiss the bruises and give them a band aid when needed. (That will most probably involve another check!!)

I wouldn't have it any other way, my kids are my life and without them it would be a desolate place to be.

Have a great summer kids...and Zach, don't throw your back out toting the TV out to the driveway this summer enjoying the weather!

Til next time COTTON