September has always been a bitter-sweet month to me…
The end of Summer. The end of long days. The end of holidays. To be honest when I say bitter-sweet I mostly mean Bitter. It’s a month of going back to school. Of getting back into routine. A month to knuckle down and get back to reality after the highs of summer. Yep. September is rubbish. Honestly, I’ve never really shaken that sinky back-to-school feeling – like I’ve forgotten to do my homework or something.
Our summer has been a summer of goodbyes (and some awesome holidays), Our boys have waved off some of their best friends as two families very close to us have emigrated halfway round the world. It’s hard to hear your four-year-old talk about how he misses his ‘best buddy’ who now lives 1000 miles away. It makes the September wind feel just a little cooler knowing that I can’t ‘fix it’ for Adlai – that he’s learning a difficult lesson. Especially when we are hurting too but our friends will always be our friends wherever they are in the world.
The departure of summer and our friends has given the new month the feeling of a distinctly new season. It’s been tough for the boys to process all that’s happened. But there is lots to be excited about – Adlai starts school next week, which he is pumped about (Faith and I less so). Koa starts preschool in a few days and hopefully preschool is ready for him. It’s a season where there’s opportunity to make new friends all over the place and having friends all round the globe means we’ve got some great holidays to look forward to. So perhaps this is the year I’ll learn to love September as the month of opportunity and friendship – a month of hellos after a summer of goodbyes.
