This year my son started high school. My middle child started her final semester at the community college and will be leaving in January for university. My oldest was dropped off last night at her university and I would be lying if I said that I was handling all of this will ease and grace.
Here's the thing...nothing can go easily. My son is on his fifth schedule for the year. Yes, you read that right. His FIFTH schedule for the freshman from another state that has no familiarity with the school whatsoever. They do not give the students their schedules until the first day of school and when they handed him his first schedule it was a different schedule than what was in the computer. This meant that he went to the wrong classes for the first three days of school. As of today we are only on the eleventh day of school. I'm hoping that this is the last one. You wouldn't think that this was a huge deal, they are just working out the kinks in the beginning of the year and now it will be smooth sailing from here out...except now his grades show missing work and F's for classes that he didn't attend because he was handed THE WRONG SCHEDULE. If we could work this out that would be great.
My middle child had all of her classes registered had paid for them all and gotten her books for them. She then received an email stating that one of her classes would not be happening due to lack of enrollment. She went into the computer to drop that class and add another. One would think this would be an even swap. Evidently not and because we didn't pay for the new class right away she was dropped from every single class she had registered for. Today is the first day of classes, one would think that this would be a day that you would have the office staff in early to handle things like this. It is not.
We took my oldest to college last Thursday. Her roommate nor her suitemates showed up. We also learned that a co-ed dorm meant boys and girls in the same hall. We moved her stuff in and then took her home and had to return her to school Sunday night. Fortunately there were people there. It's an interesting experience really. Especially if you go into college not knowing a single soul on campus. You just show up and live with some random stranger you have never met and know nothing about. I can think of no other time in life when this happens. I suppose if you have an arranged marriage....maybe? When was the last time you met someone who had an arranged marriage? See? It's awkward to the nth degree for everyone, especially for people with any bit of anxiety and who are introverts. The entirety of the rest of one's life they will never enter into this kind of living arrangement. Or I suppose maybe some people do, what do I know I've been married for the same number of years than I wasn't married in life. It's 2017 and a very odd and strange world who knows what all these people are doing.
We have had a rough start. At times the stresses and bumps in the road have gotten the best of us. It happens. It is easy to get overwhelmed and frustrated. We have been all of those things. I have been all of those things. You know what though...My son has been fine. He's been mildly inconvenienced but has just rolled with it. He just comes home tired and tells me who he knows in the classes he has now. He says to me, " It will be fine, mom." He is so like his dad that way. Twenty seven years I have been with my husband you would think he would rub off on me. The only thing I acquired is more sarcasm. He is the calm in the storm and I am the storm. I am so glad that at least one of our kids got the best of him. I give them the worst of me. The girls get to be anxious balls of stress because I am an anxious ball of stress. I can only hope that if/when they someday marry they find Godly men who bring them calm as their father has brought me.
The first week with my son starting school was tough. For me, cause as I said he was fine and rolls with it. This week however, the girls started classes. They've been nervous and stressed and so I've been nervous and stressed but you know, I also kind of think it's been awesome. As I sit alone in the quiet to think about it some pretty amazing things have happened as well. My son has shown that he is as steadfast and laid back as his father which is great to see.
My middle child, after she freaked out and decided to take her frustrations out on me, has actually been given more opportunities at the school that she may not have had otherwise. Because of this entire ordeal with her schedule and trying to get everything fixed we talked to someone in the music department and she offered her more scholarships if she signed up for her class and a different class from what she was trying to get transferred into. She also has started talking to more music majors and was even invited to go get lunch with some new friends one day this week.
My oldest, has had some things come up that she has needed help with and we are no longer just in the other room or right on the other side of town. She has had to step out of her comfort zone to ask others for help. She's not comfortable asking anyone anything except us usually. She's also looking into activities to go to and things to get involved in. For my quiet introverted girl who is uncomfortable in a lot of situations that involve people she doesn't know, this is huge! I'm so proud of her. She's figuring things out and hopefully finding out she is braver and stronger than she thinks.
As for me...well...I'm still a big giant ball of stress mess. I've actually been in a great deal of pain for a several days now just because my muscles are just tied in knots from worrying and stressing out over everything. I can't control everything. I really hate that. I know I have control issues. I usually need to have a handle on things and I've been rendered pretty helpless as it applies to the girls and their schools. I've kind of thought, as my friend Christi put it today, that if I stopped spinning my fingers the world would stop spinning. This week the world has continued to spin and my fingers have had nothing to do with it. I asked my middle child if she could see how God has worked her schedule mishap for the good. That had that never happened there wouldn't be any more scholarships and she wouldn't be playing her oboe in a band again. She said she does. I hope so. As it turns out I have little to no control over most things really. I'm not in charge of all things. (Control issues alert: I probably should be in charge of some things because...well I should.) It's shocking, I know! I was amazed too! I pray for my kids every night and sometimes I might be a little too specific in my requests. I wonder about that. As if God doesn't already know our hearts and our requests before we ask them, how specific do you really need to be? I bank on this for those nights (that are too numerous to count sadly) that I fall asleep in the middle of my prayers. The girls are learning this week how to fly. They are finding their feet anyway so they can learn to run which will help them to fly. I am learning to let them even if it means they fly further away from me. (I don't like it. I don't have to. I'm not in charge of the world and all things in it. Sometime I wish I were. Mostly I'm glad I'm not. It is exhausting spinning your fingers to keep the world in motion and besides I don't have the attention span for it.) I just hope once they learn to fly they eventually find their feet again so they can follow them back home...at least for a visit.
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