2 of 3

First day of school in these parts. Noah is now in 6th grade, so he's off to a new campus, and Reanie started kindergarten this morning.

Buddy and I took Reanie in to school. The line waiting for the doors to open was at least 400yards long. Parents everywhere with video cameras filming every second of standing in this line.

At 7:40 the doors opened, so the parents either filmed the kids from behind as they slowly marched in line to the school, or they walked backwards, filming their kids from the front as they slowly marched into school. So many videos are going to have a script that reads, "oops, sorry" as parents walking backwards filming run in to parents walking forward filming.

We were sans camera and just talked about big school, what was in the lunch box, our phone number, and whatever Buddy picked up off the ground to show us.

I was surprised to see so many parents crying. For a second, I almost felt bad that I wasn't. Am I doing something wrong? Am I supposed to be sad? Are these tears of joy? Or maybe it was the shirt I was wearing that said, "2 down, 1 to go. Day care is expensive."

Reanie settled into her classroom fine. We'd just been there on Friday, so it didn't seem all that new to her. She seemed excited about being there, but she did seem suddenly older. Not really any baby left in her. If you blink, you'll miss it.

With Reanie secured, I took Buddy to his preschool. It was the first time I can remember taking him to school all by his lonesome. He didn't seem any different about it. If anything, he was more chipper than normal, but that is probably because we'd eased into our day, whereas in the past I let them sleep until the last second, threw them in the Jeep and dumped them off at preschool.

today, though, he "read" his Thomas book to me, and every time he needed to turn the page, he handed me his toy plane, turned the page, then took the toy back. As we pulled into the parking lot, he said, "Bye plane. Bye Thomas. Bye book," and set them down on the floor board.

Most days he starts out grumpy at school, but today he was ready to go.

One in middle school, one in kindergarten, and one on deck. Ok, Buddy will be two more years before kindergarten, but still...divide and conquer.

...

Teammates are sorting out what categories they are racing at an upcoming race nearby. Some want to race their ability-based categories, and some want to race in their age group. The age group races are easier for me. And I was tempted to go that way seeing as I haven't raced since I dismounted abruptly, but I've got a kid in middle school now, and I'm not ready to be old.

ROF May, sign me up for the p,1,2's. I'll take it like a man.