My heart is trying to break out of my chest. I can’t hear due to the loud thumping sound ringing in my ears. My eyes try to focus, but tears keep coming. What am I going to do? Time is speeding up and my legs can’t keep up with Father Time.
Help! I shout, but nothing escapes my mouth. The words stop in my throat. Beads of sweat cover my brow. Is this all really happening? Can I seriously survive this? I stop, take a deep breath, and close my eyes. I let the calm darkness enfold me.
“Okay, I can do this,” I softly say to myself.
“Bye . . . Mommy!”
I look up into to see my five-year-old daughter disappearing through the glass doors on her first day of school.
Yep, I am down to one child at home. Now you would think after sending one child to school for the first time fourteen years ago I would be totally okay. Nope, I cried like a baby when I got home. My hubby laughed at me because I was so upset about my daughter not wanting me to walk her into the school. She just jumped out of the car, stood on the sidewalk of the drop-off zone, put her backpack on, and shut the car door. She did wave good-bye to me and called out a good-bye, but still . . . she’s my little girl who’s been at my side for the last five years every day.
Okay, so that was the end of last week and one reason why I haven’t been so great about posting here daily. With back-to-school, my house has been a bit nuts. All right . . . really nuts. Of course, I can’t just let the craziness of school starting be the only thing going on. For some strange reason, I have this problem of adding to the stress levels in my life. You would think between a six month old, my five year old starting school for the first time, and my oldest going into high school would be enough on this writing mom’s plate . The answer is . . . no.
I just had to add a few more things to help fill those hours of silence in my home, besides doing the mommy school thing with the kids, being a backup crossing guard for my city, and helping my son’s fencing club by writing forms and putting together a handbook for the students. So, this week, I’ve put the call out about Stories for Children Magazine reopening and have been spending my free time chatting with possible new SFC Team members. I think I have spent more time on the phone this week than I ever did as a teenager. Okay, maybe not as many . . . but almost. I am happy to say that I have some great people willing to help. More than I have jobs for really, so the tough decisions are about to begin.
I am also excited to announce I will be doing a weekly column for Suzanne Lieurance in her newsletter on all things Stories for Children. She will also be writing a monthly column for my newsletter SFC Newsletter for Writers. On top of that, I had an interesting call about a wonderful opportunity. I can’t say much now since everything is still being worked out, but I hope to soon.
So many things are going on from being a co-host on A Good Story is A Good Story to the reopening of Stories for Children Magazine. I am excited about it all, but wonder if maybe Father Time will grant my upcoming birthday wish about adding more hours in the day. If not, I might become a chicken with my head cut-off, but not before I add even more to my list of things to do, I’m sure.