That word play wasn't bad was it?
Evelyn is Starting School
Four years ago I was about to have a little girl. My first child. My first mini me. And she really did come out as a mini me just as I look like my mom. Maybe even more. The first two months of a newborn are the longest. Ever. Then, they sleep through the night, roll over, giggle, laugh. They army crawl, they pull themselves up to a table, they eat food, they walk, they talk and then... "Where did it all go?"
My baby is growing and it's shaking me. When I first started school, when I was four, I wasn't afraid to go to school but now that Evelyn is the one going, I am terrified. What if she doesn't make friends? What if she has an accident and all the kids laugh at her? What if she is scared? What if she's not scared? Should that worry me? Does she have to be fearless about this? Can't she just stay home longer? Like it used to be? Is this why more mothers are opting for home schooling? You get to make sure that your kids don't get teased, that they have food they want to eat. You guarantee that they have the teacher's (which is you) undivided attention at all times, you can keep her from all those kids that might teach her bad habits. You can keep her from those kids that might laugh at her. Those kids that might not like that she tells them when they do something bad. Those kids that might push her down. Those kids that might say hi to her. Those kids that might have fun with her. Those kids that might teach her about being a friend. Those kids that might help her to know who she is. Yes, you might be able to keep your kid from all that if you never let them go.
I know that mothers home school because of the quality of the local schools or more to say the lack thereof. Sometimes. I just wonder how much of it has more to do with us not being able to let go as parents. What happens to these kids that don't get the full experience of school. Do they become lost soul who wander once released into the wilds of university? I fear for those kids who don't know who they are around different kinds of people because we do change with who is near us. Do you act the same with your friends as you do your doctor? I hope not. Unless your doctor is a friend. Even then, in the exam room, it's different. You are different. If you home school, don't have your children trapped inside the house. If you home school your children, take then out with other home schooled children their ages on special field trips to get to know others so they don't miss out on getting to know others and getting to know themselves.
I know that this is just the very beginning of letting Evelyn make her own choices and trusting that she will be okay as long as she is guided by us, her parents. It is so important for children to know who they are, that they are children of our Heavenly Father and that he wants them to succeed also and that He is there when they are afraid or unsure of anything. I need to remember that too on Monday when I drop Evelyn off in her classroom.
Tom is Starting School
Since late April, my husband Tom has been trying to enroll in college. The small town just South of us is a university town. It has a university. Truly! I have completed two years of university there and we, as a family, had planned on me finishing my degree before Tom would start his. Well, time went by and I dragged my feet way too much. This year we decided that enough was enough. It wasn't happening for me so it was now time for Tom to start school before he got too old to be a doctor.
Tom grew up with a PA father and (eventually) an RN mother. He grew up hearing and learning about medicine from his dad and was so intrigued by it. After graduating high school, he considered starting with criminal justice. He attended three different community colleges as his family moved around the country. A great and humbling event happened in his family and Tom knew that he needed to serve a mission for our church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints). For Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.
Tom was sent to Ecuador for two years to proselyte.
After her served, he came home and moved almost immediately down here to Texas with his parents. They went to Sturgis with his oldest sister, her husband and his brother and his brother's wife. When they came back, Tom tried to get into Border Patrol but was told they were on a hiring freeze. It happens at times. We re-met while he was trying to get into Border Patrol. We hung out a bit with the singles' group of our church, Young Single Adults (YSA), so when asked by the hiring agent whom he spent time with, he mentioned the few of us in YSA. I received a call about her meeting me to ask questions about Tom. The thing I remember from the interview the most is that when she asked if I thought Tom would be in any way a threat to our country, I chuckled thinking that was the dumbest question to be asked about him.
"No, I couldn't image that he ever would be."
I honestly couldn't and I barely knew him but for some reason I knew that I knew that about him. I knew he could never hurt his country.
It was just after our first date when Tom was told they were on a hiring freeze. He worked a Wal-Mart remodel then as a host at a Chinese restaurant owned by the husband of an RN his father worked with. May of that year he spent in Aggie Land getting his EMT Basic. He loved it. Worked almost five years in EMS. Medicine became a very large part of who his is. He starts school on Monday and it still doesn't feel real. I still am getting used to him not working EMS. In Emergency, you work 24 hours or more at a time. It's hard on a wife sometimes. It's hard on the kids sometimes too. Between EMS and school, Tom drove hot shots and eighteen wheelers. Another job that keeps you away for days at a time. He didn't go far most runs but much of the time he would be gone all day. He was home more nights though. I remember, when Tom was still working EMS, Evelyn would cry some nights because Daddy wasn't going to come home. Even though he had the job before she was even born and Daddy working on an ambulance was all she knew, it was still hard for her to understand. I'm getting off topic though. And making myself cry too.
A new chapter starts in our life as Tom starts school again. He has ADD and also has dyslexia and dysgraphia. I'm not saying this myself, he was diagnosed with all three since he was a child. It is difficult for him to focus without someone helping him to stay on task and even then he is still very good at school work. Things around the house...eh. A school assignment can take maybe an hour or two, clearing out the office and turning it into a play room...may take more than a week or two which means it will take months to do. Looses focus for longer projects which shows that he has improved over time. Either learning to compensate or grew out of some of it.
Tom will be starting with a pre-med degree; biology of medicine. So this blog has now become about becoming a doctor's wife as well as being a mother, crafter and Texan.
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