First Day of School 2007

Holy preps and skaters, Batman! My children have descended on the halls of middle school! Mac in her first year - as a 6th grader, and Tyler in his last - as an 8th grader. When did they decide to just grow up? When did they decide to join the drama that is adolescence? Turmoil and acne. Love and hate. To be or not to be -- you get the picture.

OK, I am being way too dramatic myself here. Tyler is in fact, in his last year of middle school, but in a way he is getting a taste of what high school is going to be like. He had homework the very first day. He likes his teachers, but there is a zero tolerance on late work. This is all going to be new for him. As long as he stays organized, he'll do just fine. He has already made one very grown up decision - forgoing football for mock-trial. Talk about the difference between day and night, snow and sun, etc! He has never been interested in athletics as a rule. He has always gravitated toward more, shall we say, intellectual pastimes. Not to say that athletes can't be intellectuals - it just isn't obvious to the whole world. Tyler has already participated in mock-trial for the last 2 years. He really enjoyed it and he did very well. Of course, there is also music. It's the 2nd day of school and he has already been awarded a solo in vocal class. Man-oh-man. Way to go, Buddy!

As for MacKenzie...her brother says that Mac is a "prep," (whatever that is) and if she doesn't stop it, he is going to have to "beat her up" a little. Like THAT is going to happen! I don't think so! Actually, the first day of school, Tyler defended her to another kid in the hallway. I guess no one can be mean to her except for him. Anyway, she is already fitting in just fine. I knew she would. She is still trying to find her place in the world, and she has plenty of time to do it. She is in the school show choir already, she is taking vocal, and she is finding that she likes most of her classes. She has a computer science class and isn't crazy about that teacher, but I told her to just be her normal, obedient, well behaved, self and she will do just fine. Next week - Mac gets braces. That will be fodder for a new entry I imagine.

I have also decided that I am officially losing my mind. I am relatively sure that I was told last Sunday that this Wednesday was the first night of choir practice at church. I showed up promptly at 7:00, waited till about 7:15 and when no one showed up, I headed back home. I sent an email to the director in hopes that everyone came down with some mysterious illness, so that I don't look like I'm some over-eager diva. Actually, I'm sure that I'll get over it. I'm never early for ANYTHING so, this should earn me a few laughs anyway.

Yesterday was MY first day of school too. I'm taking a Composition class geared toward business writing. It is sure to be a hoot, as there are 3 of my co-workers in the class, and the instructor has already cracked me up a few times. He is a very interesting person with a healthy sense of humor, dry, but well developed, and an obvious gift for the dramatic. He told us all to get to know our thesauruses this semester. I guess I'll have to make a "Word of the Week" list and try out a new one every now and then. I'll keep you posted.

Good night.