Wednesday, August 17, 2016

First Day of the Last Year




I dropped Sophie off for the first day of her last year at school. I'd like to say that the years have flown by, but they haven't, and I felt choked up as I watched her aides wheel her inside. I don't know if it's sorrow or gratitude prickling at my throat, heavy. Am I weightless or weighed down, is the road straight or does it wind? Abide or endure?



I may lose at any moment through the play of circumstance over which I have no control, anything whatsoever I possess, including those things which are so intimately mine that I consider them as being myself.
Simone Weil 
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16 comments:

  1. Ms. MoonAugust 17, 2016 at 11:11 AM

    Lord. That's a hard mantra. And an emotional day.

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  2. UnknownAugust 17, 2016 at 11:50 AM

    That will be me in a few weeks. What to do next year is our theme this year!!

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  3. Tanya SavkoAugust 17, 2016 at 1:29 PM

    "I'd like to say that the years have flown by, but they haven't." I completely get that. I wish it could have been different. Thanks for putting it into words; I always thought I was the only parent who felt that way.

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  4. JillAugust 17, 2016 at 2:22 PM

    Reading this choked me up.

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  5. ElisabethAugust 17, 2016 at 4:05 PM

    So sad, that this day which is usually joyous, should be loaded down with such grief. Something to do with what has been and what is to come. Those days that have not 'flown'.

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  6. Denise Emanuel ClemenAugust 17, 2016 at 5:16 PM

    A big day. Sending love.

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  7. AndreaAugust 17, 2016 at 5:54 PM

    Oh, Elizabeth. We're with you. Right here.

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  8. AAugust 17, 2016 at 6:05 PM

    Abide, endure, or... Explore, still. I love the mosaic of footprints in the desert in that last picture.

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  9. Hope-filled CrystalAugust 17, 2016 at 10:56 PM

    And then there are the friends' children of the same age....the ones shining so brightly in sports gear and prom dresses and college visitations. The peaks in our world are not so picturesque.

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  10. Hope-filled CrystalAugust 18, 2016 at 5:10 AM

    And then there are the friends' children of the same age....the ones shining so brightly in sports gear and prom dresses and college visitations. The peaks in our world are not so picturesque.

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  11. Carrie Wilson LinkAugust 18, 2016 at 6:22 AM

    Love.

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  12. livAugust 18, 2016 at 10:32 AM

    Things have changed for you so much in this last year, all the parts of you.
    It is very touching to see you walk through them, sometimes leaving heavy footprints, sometimes just skimming the sands. You are one good, brave woman.

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  13. 37paddingtonAugust 18, 2016 at 11:13 AM

    A milestone. Everything is changing again. I love what liv said. Hugs.

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  14. BirdieAugust 18, 2016 at 2:21 PM

    Both maybe? Ying/Yang?

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  15. My life so farAugust 19, 2016 at 4:49 AM

    I love that quote, now if I could only remember it and even more importantly live it:)

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  16. Steve ReedAugust 19, 2016 at 6:42 AM

    Maybe it's sorrow AND gratitude. Doesn't have to be an either/or, does it?

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