2nd Day of Kindergarten

Owen says goodbye to Meera before heading out for

his 2nd day of school

As the boys were heading off to school this morning they were very concerned about Meera: "You need to take care of her Mama," "Will you make sure she's o.k. Mama?" "She's so sad that we're going to school Mama!" "Don't forget to feed her when we're gone Mama!" And they were talking to Meera: "Meera, it's o.k., we'll be back after school Meera," "Don't be too jealous Meera, you will go to school when you're bigger!" "Kindergarten is only for kids Meera, not for babies!" "You don't need to worry Meera, we will always come back, don't worry!" It was very cute. Braydon did drop-off and they did great again on Day 2 of separate classrooms. What a relief! And what an amazing feeling when, at 8:45 I found myself in a truly astounding experience: the boys off to school, Meera down for her nap, and me not having to rush frantically to get to work. I sat in the family room pumping breast milk alone in a delirious haze of sheer sweet moment-ness. I actually turned on the Today Show and watched it for a few minutes while just sitting there!--something I haven't done for probably at least a few years. Yes, there is a to-do list a mile long of stuff I've gotta get done (including --amongst all the home stuff-- a few work projects that I have on-going)... but... I don't have to try to frantically frenetically frenziedly juggle work --that huge, huge heavy ball of wax-- into the mix. The career is delightfully "on hold." No meetings to run to, no lectures to prep, no scrambling to get my act together, no work clothes, no hair dryer, no hundreds-of-deadlines-looming over me, no zillions of emails to reply to, no b.s. workplace politics to be worrying about, no heavy obligations hanging over me, no committee work to fret over, no editors breathing down my back, no publishers pushing me, no papers to revise, no files to review, no students' issues to worry me sick. Seriously, I cannot even say how much I am loving being on maternity leave. And the thought of having the whole fall ahead of me... it is just delirious deliciousness to me right now. Ahhhhhh... to be able to just breathe. I don't even remember the last time I could... just... breathe...