Food for thought...

I love words. Mixing and matching words. Creating sentences. Organizing thoughts in writing. But what I love most is when words come together in just the right way to make a statement that leaves an impression. A quote. I LOVE great quotes. And when I came across this one, I felt like sharing. I find comfort in these words. Hope you will too!

"When we long for life without difficulties, remind us that oaks grow strong in contrary winds and diamonds are made under pressure."
~Peter Marshall

Where did the school year go? And how is it June already?

So Coulby is no longer a Kindergartner and will enter the world of a big first grader at the start of the next school year. Whew! First grade? And 6-years-old? I cannot believe that time has

gone by so quickly. Coulby woke up from sleep last night and came to lay beside me in bed. He slid into bed next to me and I swear when he stretched out alongside me he was as tall as me already. Guess that is really not too hard to fathom considering I am only 5'4". Or I thought I was until I was at the doctor's office the other day and the nurse declared me 5'3". Either I am shrinking or I have never, ever been 5'4" and have been under the misconceived notion that I was an inch closer to the sky than I really am. Whatever. So anyway, Coulby is tall and growing up and is not my little Kindergartner anymore. I say goodbye to yet another school year and wonder how I got left in the dust.

And now it is time to kick off summer break. It is a little different a kick off this year with me working full-time again and with...hmm...the upheaval of life. In so many ways. And speaking of working full-time again, this working mom thing takes a lot of getting used to. I still think being a stay-at-home mom is one of the toughest jobs in the world, but being a working mom is kinda hard too. Kinda really is not the word. It is damn hard! Difficult in different ways than staying at home with your kids is difficult. I am getting into a groove though, and really, I am finding that I am actually getting more done now than I did as a stay-at-home mom. How is that possible? I guess because I know I only have two days a week to get things done, along with a handful of hours each evening after work. I have to get it all done in that little bit of time, so even when I am dead tired, I push myself just a little bit more to do it. And I am exhausted. But I am also okay with that. Caroline is liking school. Coulby is looking forward to going to mommy's school this summer. And I am liking the paycheck. So it is a good change for all of us. Just a little different, that's all.

Coulby finished up the school year having had a pretty good go of things both academically and with his health. I mean, he did get sick a lot, and many of those times were back to back illnesses that almost drove us to our breaking points, but overall he was healthy. The fact that he did not end up hospitalized as a result of every illness is huge. Yeah, the February hospitalization was tough, but Coulby got through it and was not in and out of Hopkins as a result of every cold and cough that he encountered. I hope that his experience in first grade will be the same. He does have a scheduled Hopkins appointment on Tuesday, so he starts summer break off like that, which will hopefully yield good numbers. (*Fingers crossed*)

I am not sure what this summer will bring, but I hope for good things. Like swimming and ice cream and bumming it at the beach and cookouts and cold drinks (preferably of the adult kind, but whatever). This summer will be different, but I do know that "different" is not always bad. I hope that the kids, and myself for that matter, will find "different" to have positive implications.