Why does life have an accelerator but no brakes?

At least, that's the way it seems. Yes, I knew that we were starting school this week. Yes, I did my fair share of procrastinating this summer, although some of it was for exceptionally good personal reasons that I cannot detail for you. Yes, I knew it would be trickier than ever before since we were coming off a big family wedding weekend, and I would have to corral and moralize the troops to begin Monday morning. But I can pretty much say without compare, that the difficulty of starting school on August 16th this year absolutely defied my wildest dreams. For once, I do not feel ready.

Not that readiness is everything. There was the year that I was perfectly ready and nervously started school on time, every pencil sharpened, every paper in place, only to be blasted out of the water as my kids rush into the house in tears because some creature had traumatically chomped one of their chickens. So much for a smooth morning. No one could concentrate worth beans, and I think something of the sort happened the next year, too. I began to wonder if a chicken must always die the first day of school. This year, one of their pets expired on Saturday, two days too early. Frankly, I do not mourn her early passing.

So tomorrow we begin, whether I feel ready or not. It will be a good year. I'd like to step a little further from the traditional this year (I'm a terribly traditional learner and teacher, in many cases) and have a little more fun with our learning techniques in school. I hope to learn a lot this year myself, while I continue to write. I hope we'll not only survive, but flourish.

I think the best thing, though, is that, no matter what, we'll be in it together.