Tuesday, September 02, 2008

Taking Time Off This Week

Source: The Midkiff Teens, First Day of School. Digital photograph. 2 September 2008. Privately held by Miriam Robbins Midkiff [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] 2008.

Today was the first day of school for the 2008 - 2009 school year for both myself as a staff member of our local school district, and for my two teens. My mind is swimming with thoughts of all I did with my students today, the news from my teens on their great first day back, and the responsibilities I have as a parent, homemaker, and employee that will fill my hours for the rest of the week. In addition, there are many duties I need to fulfill for my local genealogical society this month, which begins its genealogical year this Saturday.

For these reasons, I will be taking a break this week from writing my weekly Wordless Wednesday column and its corresponding follow-up normally published on Thursday, as well as Friday Findings. The latter I've actually not published for the past few weeks, as I have been so busy, I just haven't had much time for research. The only thing I plan to publish are any pre-written press releases that I may receive via e-mail.

Because it's my daughter's senior year, and because admittedly I let many things slide as a parent last year, I have made a personal commitment to allow myself to let other things go--like blogging--when life gets a bit overwhelming, and just focus on my teenagers. I had a sentimental thought or two this morning as I took my kids' annual "First Day of School" photos and realized that this was many lasts: the last "first day" of public school for my daughter; the last time I would take a photo of the two of them on their shared "first day"; the last time they would have a first day of school when they were both in high school. This time will never be captured again, and I want to be able to savor it. I know my readers will understand.

3 comments:

Elizabeth O'Neal said...

I absolutely understand how you're feeling. I went through the same thing last week, after having been slammed with the flu. Those moments with your kids are so precious - we can't let them slip away because other things seem more important. They won't seem so important when we're old, but we'll still have the memories of time spent with our kids. When my daughter wants to play or snuggle, I try to drop everything for her.

wendy said...

Great looking kids! Hope you have a great first week & your teens as well. Enjoy the time off!

Kathryn Lake Hogan said...

A very nice photo of your kids, Miriam. Glad to see I'm not the only one who takes pictures of her kids on the first day of school. I can only hope that mine will be willing to have it done when they reach their teen years. Back to school for the kids, back to meetings and commitments for the adults. Good-bye Summer!