I tucked each kid in, and sat by their bed with questions about their fears, their hopes for tomorrow as they start their first day of 2nd, 4th and oh-my-gosh, middle school - 6th grade. Everyone says it, I know, but I really can't believe how quickly it all went. I blinked. The summer was gone.
And while I mourn summer. I never expected my 9-year-old to feel the same. She told me while I sat on the side of her bed, "It just went so quick, mom. I feel like we didn't even get summer. And like last Christmas, it's like it just passed by."
I know not every child feels the ache of their childhood rushing by, but this one does. She has an old soul. And it breaks me a bit that her days are already so rushed, so filled, so strewn with things to do that she hasn't had a chance to be downright bored. Just bored with being a kid. Dreaming of those days when she's older.
Which is why when I read this placard, I got a bit misty and sat down to write. I want to breathe and notice, to study their faces and pay attention. I want to hit pause.
I know we all do. So can we do this together? Can we all agree to slow down a bit - with the plans, with the must-do's? Then maybe we can learn what it is to be bored, in a most wonderful way.
I'm ready.
Pause.
