The Craziness Before School Starts

It is truly the beginning of the end. It usually starts with the class lists. Which teacher is your child getting and who is in her class. Those typically arrive via e-mail the last day of camp. And then it is craziness from that point forward. It is starting early this year. Fun lunch forms, enrichment class schedules, special dessert days-and it hasn’t even really started!

Now, I have tried very hard this year to spread out all the “to-do” items on my list for the four weeks my girls are away at overnight camp. How totally insane is it that in early July, I can head to Target or Wal-Mart and they have school supplies, backpacks, lunch boxes all ready for me to buy. Yet, school is not until the end of August? Some even September? But this year we paced ourselves. One afternoon picking lunch boxes, another week choosing a new Kindergarten backpack-wasn’t thrilled he went with Spongebob, but it likely won’t last beyond this year anyway! Another day, ordered new swim equipment for my daughter.

Through all of this, I felt relaxed, not rushed, there was plenty of time to get it all done. I was genuinely excited to say I had almost completed the summer “To-Do” list. Almost. Yet, it is starting. The insanity of back-to-school. And it is starting early. That feeling of stress, a bit of panic, a need to move a little faster, get a little more done. It has hit me. And I am not happy about it.

We have tried to make the most of the summer. Gone to Ravinia a bunch of times, the pool, hiking, summer camp. Even with the weather fluctuating between stifling heat and humidity and terrorizing storms, and traffic in Deerfield and Highland Park almost unbearable, the summer has been amazing. Relaxing, even. I have slept well. The bags under my eyes are smaller due to a slight tan and a more relaxed night of sleep.  

But it is the beginning of the end. The “Back-to School to-do” list is growing by the minute. The carpool schedules, after school activities registrations, fun lunches-it's coming and it's coming up fast. But there are a few more weeks of summer. I know there are. I plan to make the most of them. Before it all ends.