I’ve long said, “Don’t let the calendar decide when you’re happy,” and I think I’ve done a good job of living by my words. Our family makes the most of every day instead of waiting for special days that we designate as more important than others, e.g. holidays, days off, weekends. Something I’ve never said is, “Don’t let the calendar decide when you’re unhappy.” And to be fair to myself, I don’t let the calendar decide anything for me. But I’ve been trained over the past couple years to brace myself for Mondays. After full weekends of excitement (good or bad) it’s always difficult after my wife has left for work, and I’ve dropped the girls off at school to come home to an empty, quiet house. 

There’s only ten more days of school left, and including today, two more Mondays to get through before the girls will be home for the summer. This morning went like many mornings, starting with getting the girls up, fed, dressed, etc. Once she was ready for school, Audio made some artwork out of sparkly, colored glue and origami paper. She got a little on the sleeve of her sweater, but that was easy to clean and dry before we had to leave the house.  

Before Dee Dee got started at anything, I asked if she wanted to watch TV and suggested that we watch Bluey. We started watching Bluey last year and it became part of our morning routine for quite a while. After they quit making new shows, and we’d seen all of the episodes a few times, we stopped watching it and found other ways to keep ourselves occupied before school. With Dee Dee being nine, and almost finished with the third grade, I don’t know if shows like Bluey will hold her interest when the next school year starts. 

I pushed a few buttons on the remote control, joined Dee Dee on the couch and put my arm around her when she snuggled up to me. When Audio was finished what she was creating, she came and sat on my lap. We spent a little over a half hour sitting together watching the TV. All three of us calm and content. Even with all of the other things we do, it’s sitting together like this that I will likely have the strongest memories of and miss the most as they grow up and away. 

For the end of the school year, the classes have special days lined up. For Dee Dee, today was “PJ Day.” So, she was dressed in pajamas. Both girls have each had a few pajama days and I still think it’s a bad idea. But, so far, nothing bad has happened. Audio’s class had “Show and Tell Day,” today. She brought a peony in a vase to show and tell about and then give to her teacher. 

As we got ready to leave for our walk to school, Dee Dee talked about how much sleep she got and how happy she was. When a kid who is always in positive spirits says she’s happy, it means she’s really feeling good. But it makes me nervous about how her day will go. As much as I love to hear her say she’s happy, I am relieved to hear that she is still happy at the end of the day. She’s had a few problems with kids being mean to her to the point where she has talked about it at home. Luckily, I’m familiar with the parents of a couple of the boys who have given her a hard time, so I’ve talked to the parents about the situation. And, in both cases, the parents appreciated hearing how their kid was behaving so that they could redirect the kids. I obviously can’t be with her all the time forever. So, I’m happy that Dee Dee is as resilient as she is. I don’t hear much about the girls in her class, but I have seen that they are slow to include Dee Dee in their activities. I’m sure that she puts up with a fair amount of nonsense at school, but no matter what happens to her, she goes back to school smiling the next day. I can only hope that she feels as happy and strong on the inside as she shows on the outside. 

When we got to the school, even though we have the calendars for both girls’ special days taped up in our kitchen, I was a bit nervous that we had the days straight for both of them. I saw that first graders were all carrying stuffed animals, and second graders were all wearing funny hats. For a moment, I was concerned that one of the girls would be the only one in their room without a funny hat or stuffed cat. But, I quickly remembered from other years that the different grades, and sometimes, even different classes within a grade have different special days. So, once I was sure that the pajamas and peony were appropriate, they, and the rest of the props, made the morning all the more interesting. When the bell rang, I sent Audio into the school with the vase and flower for her teacher and walked Dee Dee to the front door. When I got home, the sky was gray, and the house was quiet and empty.