Today I was taunted by a box of tissues. Not even Kleenex, mind you, but generic Target up & up™ brand tissues. The tissues sit in a bin in our utility room next to a disgustingly dirty backpack and mock me by representing the memory of “enthusiastic August mom” while laughing at “stumbling toward the last day of school May mom.”
The summer must hold some magical restorative powers because every August when school starts, despite our barely mediocre finish the previous May, I sincerely believe that this year will be different!
I purchased that box of tissues from the list of items that my daughter’s teacher requested. She was supposed to bring it in the first week of school. I reminded her a few times, and then it just became a permanent inhabitant of the bin.
This year our girls attended a new middle school and I naively thought that the list of required school supplies that we received at orientation had some correlation to what they actually needed. The week before school, “enthusiastic August mom” made a spread sheet of what each daughter needed for each class – seven different teachers each. I won’t make that mistake again next year. I’ll wait until September to buy supplies after seeing what they actually need.
Last August, I was ready with plans to conquer homework. I was going to check grades and assignments every night in Progress Book. I bought each girl a planner so I could help them stay organized. I would quiz them before tests. Or at least I would know when they had tests.
August was awesome. September was pretty good. We went to back-to-school-night and met all the teachers. Both girls made honor roll the first quarter.
And then…
As we stumble to the end of the year, I’m searching under beds for un-returned library books. As we try to meet insanely ambitious reading goals, I told one daughter to just take an AR test on a book she already read at her old school, and I confess to purchasing an audio book to get us over the last reading hump.
In August I planned nutritionally balanced lunches in cute containers. Today I stuffed Kraft Mac-n-Cheese, Cheetos, cookies, and iced tea into lunch bags because, hey, that’s what they will actually eat.
Summer is days away.
Here’s the crazy thing. After 10 1/2 weeks of summer, I guarantee that I will once again be enthusiastically delusional about next school year.
Enjoy the summer!
