And now, the end is near....

...and today is the last full day of elementary school. Tomorrow they only go for half a day, and then another year is done. Sigh.

I suppose there are those parents out there who are looking forward to their kids being home for the summer, and those who dread it. This year, I'm neither. Perhaps my senses have been dulled by all the recent trips to doctors, emergency rooms, IEPs, sports days, track meets, assemblies, sleep over camps (I'm still trying to get those images out of my mind!).

My kids are now 10, 11 and 12. My oldest has been out of school since last Wednesday, and tomorrow morning we go back to the middle school for her awards ceremony. Oh, and to pick up her clarinet which has been sitting in the band room since last week. Oh, and so she can hopefully find her favorite grey vest that she lost a few weeks ago. (We each have our own priorities.) My middle daughter has her "leaving ceremony" today at the elementary school. And my son still has one more year in that school.

Last night at dinner my oldest commented how we will have attended leaving ceremonies 6 years in a row by the time all 3 kids have finished elementary school and middle school. Then we get a year off from ceremonies until the final round of graduations start. (At least I hope there's a full round of that!!)

When the kids were all pre-school age I never really could imagine that as they moved through the school system we would have these yearly repeats. The annual "Back to School bbq" at the elementary school is the same every single year. I have been to 7 of them in a row, so I do know what I'm talking about. The Valentine's Dance? Yes, the same every year. I know it makes it easier on the organizers (and yes I was on the PAC for two years and I wasn't about to re-invent the wheel either). But it's difficult to maintain the appropriate level of enthusiasm year after year after year.

When my kids were in the younger grades I always thought those older kids' parents were so jaded and unsupportive not to attend every function....HA! What did I know?

So today I will attend the leaving ceremony and take the photos and cheer for my middle daughter, and then next year I will do the same for my son. And then it starts all over again at the middle school.

And I'm NOT going to get all weepy. I won't focus on all the struggles she's had to overcome and how hard won all her successes are. Nope, not me. I won't get weepy.

Must be my allergies.