“How many more days Mommy,” enquired BB this morning. “Is it one day or two?” he asked, his eyes shining with excitement at the prospect of the epic summer holiday ahead.
“Three days BB, three days to go,” I replied, with an equal measure of trepidation.
I don’t usually admit to feeling stressed on the blog, but if ever there’s a time to come clean it’s this week.
It’s the last week of term, the temperatures are in the 40s, we’ve all been ill due to being cooped up indoors, there’s the kindergarten graduation to attend, teachers’ presents to organise, we have a visitor, there are friends to see before they leave, and then there’s the thought of the 10-week summer holiday ahead of us. Yes, I’ll say that again, 10 weeks!
In fact, the mass exodus from the desert to cooler climes has already started. Yesterday, I parked right outside the supermarket and I’m convinced the roads are already quieter. School seems to be sliding into the holiday and every time I meet a friend, the conversation starts, “So when are you off?” and ends with a cheery, “See you in September!”
Crazy, never-to-be-repeated week
Aside from the good-byes, there’s the emotion of the school-year ending, lost library books, packing, and – of all the weeks we could have chosen to do this – the nightmarish task of potty training a boy who has a deep, deep mistrust of the toilet. Traumatised isn’t an exaggeration, and that’s both me and him – all witnessed by my visiting mother-in-law.
So, while I know I’ll feel like I’m in free fall once the structure of school is gone and DH jets off away from it all to Sydney, I’ll be so glad when this week is over, the farewells are said, the 10 tonnes of artwork filed and LB actually makes it to the toilet in time without screaming blue murder.
There are weeks when my office job feels like a walk in the park in comparison.
Photo from: The Brotherhood of the Stinky Underpants
The last week of school was really stressful here too, culminating with a piano recital for F which meant we got home at 11pm on Friday night! We did absolutely nothing at the weekend, just to recover. I bet you can’t wait to leave the desert. Looking forward to a nice US chat soon! xx
I’m counting the hours! Really looking fw to chatting soon 🙂
It’s been a rough week here, too. DH and I took the day off yesterday to run some last-minute errands and spent more than half of it trying to deal with the mess that is the international banking system here in Seoul (this needs to be a post…I can’t even describe it…) Just over 24 hours before we walk out the door for 6 weeks – and I’m working today..and I’m not even packed… Of course, I at least don’t have to deal with potty training on top of all of the rest of it! Deep breaths – getting there is the hardest part!
Wishing you a wonderful summer Ms Caroline! Hope all the last-minute stress is now a distant memory x