I've gotta say, it is not easy adjusting to change. My girls are very social people and they look forward to the start of school every year. This year, however, they have been very nervous about school in general. They are freshmen and high school seemed very scary to them. I tried to understand why they were so concerned about high school, but neither of them could give a real reason. I warned them about the struggle to balance marching band schedules and homework, and that they would miss their social life outside of the two. I now think I may have added to the stress for them both.
Nevertheless, the first day of school came on Monday. They had a relatively good day. They feared that they would get lost trying to find their classes. That happened, but they were okay with it. They didn't know that lunch was only 25 minutes long, and they are not okay with that. They were used to having 45 minutes, but they will adjust in time. They were afraid they would miss the bus to get home because they have to travel from one side of the school to the other to get to it. They made the bus. They managed the day just fine. They both had real homework the first day of school. This was a little alarming to all three of us. That told me that they are likely to have homework in at least one class everyday. I also realize that can potentially be a problem on the days they have marching band practice in the evening. The bus typically drops them off at home at 4:25. We have to leave the house to get to marching band at 5:20. That gives them almost an hour to do homework, eat dinner, and possibly shower. The real problem is that the next morning they have to get up at 5:50 to get ready to go to marching band practice again, so they should go to bed at 9:00 when they get home from the evening band practice instead of staying up to do homework. I mentioned the difficulty they might face trying to juggle everything with a limited amount of time. My advise was met with dismissal facial expressions and the all knowing disagreeing head shake. I loudly explained that I would be fine not doling out the advise and experience I have collected from attending high school myself and assisting their older sister through high school as well.
Then Tuesday, the second day of school. Oh, the day went fine, very fine indeed. Until that moment on the bus, when one of the girls realized their homework was in a folder, in a classroom which was probably locked and the teacher gone home for the day. When the door opened to the garage and the girls walked in, tears were flowing from her eyes. She immediately started planning how to get the homework. She make plans to get a copy from a friend an hour later when she arrived at band practice. She went on to her dog 20 minute walking job, she came back and ate dinner, and she took a quick shower. I dropped them off at band practice. Then I picked them up at 8:40, and again, TEARS. The friend with the copy of the homework didn't have time to finish it. More loud works were spoken in the car going home. Disagreements between children and parents, and between parent and parent, were discussed...Loudly. Once everyone was home, a new plan was formed and the friend would email a copy of the homework. She got ready for bed while she waited for the email. Unfortunately, she didn't know that getting ready for bed meant that she would somehow get toothpaste in her eye. MORE (legitimate) TEARS. She waited and waited, but no email. At nearly 10:00, she gave up and went to bed. I was exhausted from the continual stress of HER day.
This all brings us to today, Wednesday morning...Hump Day, Ya-uh. She asked to wake up 20 minutes early to get the email and work on her homework. I woke her up and she got ready quickly. She opened the email and began working. She worked on it in the car on the way to band practice. Right before we arrived at school, she exclaimed she was finished with half of it, and the other half should be easy enough to complete in study hall, which is before the class where it was due. (Large exhale).
I went back to work on Monday. I work in a warehouse braking sheet metal into trim pieces for roof installation. Texas is hot in the summer, and it's hovering around 100 degrees everyday. It was pretty hot Monday, but Tuesday there was a freak cooler front that came through with cloud cover and the high for the day was upper 80's/lower 90's. Yay! I have not adjusted to working all day yet. I haven't even had time to sit down and form a plan for myself to organize how I will buy groceries, cook the food, do the house work and laundry, and still have enough patience to deal with the TEARS...because if there is one think I am absolutely sure of...it is that there will be more TEARS, and probably a lot sooner than I think!
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