School Days!

I don't know which I like better...summer break or the school year. It doesn't really matter because unless time freezes--the cycles of life ring in the opening of school this time every year. In my house-that means the hectic pace of early morning wake up calls, after school sports practices and late hour homework sessions. This one gets picked up and that one gets dropped off and the other one forgets this -while the next one forgets that. It's enough to make your head spin. I can remember a time when I had four different schools for my five sons...Now we're down to two for the youngest three...Alleluia!

But it's apparent that we're a little rusty after the long hazy, crazy days of summer. In fact tonight our wheels fell off this well oiled machine as the frenzied activity of football and homework collided and feelings got trampled on in the aftermath of physical and mental exhaustion. Never a dull moment! But I wouldn't have it any other way!

For all the commotion, all the nerve wracking juggling acts--this for me is a critical spiritual experience. There is nothing more important than participating in the education of young minds and watching their evolutionary progression as they move from Pre School through High School and into College. The lessons that are learned by both the student and the parent stay with us long after graduation day-because we learn to coordinate, to collaborate and to cultivate the art of diplomacy within our family and with others.

I watch as my 14 year old helps his 9 year old brother--just moments after the battle of the boys has erupted and then subsided. I learn the dynamics of what these three have learned from their two older brothers and how they pass those lessons down to one another as if there is a chain of command demanding nothing less. And I catch myself all too often playing hall monitor and making some of the same errors in judgement that I made as a young mom 20 years before.

But when all is said and done, when they've crashed on the table top, or traveled to never never land long before their homework is done-I smile and give thanks for this rare opportunity to be with them on their journey through childhood--to be next to them as they maneauver through the pages of history while dreaming of a place in the football hall of fame...Because while they are studying their options...I too am learning something new-learning to count my blessings...all five of them....and I have to admit...like them, working hard to improve my overall score as their mom and their mentor.