Racers... Start Your Engines!

As I sit here and prepare to put my thoughts into words, I am reminded of a song. There is a verse in Kid Rock's "All Summer Long"that says:
  
   Now nothing seems as strange as when the leaves begin to change, or how we thought those days                 would never end.

I understand that I am old enough to know that summer cannot last forever and that, at some point, the reality of the school year will always come back around. However, this year was a little different. Amanda and I have both grown so "accustom" (Chris Rock has a really funny routine on this word!) to the fact that we get to wake up every morning and hang out with Coop. We dreaded the day that we both had to go back to work.

Well... Today is that day. We had to drop Cooper off at the daycare with Ms. Max and Ms. Kay. Now I am sure that they are both very well intentioned, capable people, but it is not the easiest thing to drop your kid off with "strangers" so that you can go to work all day. Of course Cooper had no idea of what was going on and he just laid in the floor and played while Amanda and I did the best we could to not show our animosity toward the whole situation.

Amanda was great! Of course she had moments where she wasn't sure she could do it. (Right before we left the house, as soon as we got to the daycare, when she put Cooper down to play, when we saw friends coming to drop their kids off, and finally, when it was time to drive away.) Hillary met us at the door because "Evan wanted to say hi to Cooper." Nicki and Jason were dropping Ainsley off. Becky Wiginton was dropping their little girl off. And some random lady who has a kid in Cooper's class was dropping off as well. All of these people were very supportive of Amanda and told her that it would all be okay in "a few days."

Ready or not, school has started. The leaves will change and temperatures will cool. New kids will shuffle in and out of our rooms, our lives, and our hearts. Some will be missed, some will be helped along, and some will not move on quick enough. But in the back of our minds, we are going to be constantly wondering what our "Little Man" is doing and how is day is going. We will count down the minutes until we get to go pick him up and see that wonderful smile and hear that precious giggle. Sure, he will grow older, bigger, and more independent, but he will always be the one kid we just can't hang on to quite long enough!