Watching your child grow up often comes with mixed emotions. This week has given me so many of those moments all at once. Monday morning, I cried driving the boys to school.

Why?

It hit me on the ride over that it would be the last Monday I would ever be taking both boys to the same school. NHL and JSL will never be in the same school again. This was the last year. The kids saw that I had tears in my eyes and asked why. I was honest and told them. They were so sweet and held my hands on the way into school. Clearly, they knew that Mom needed a little TLC.

Of course, more emotions were there on the last full day that both boys would be in the same school. Over the last month or so, I have watched each afternoon as NHL and JSL would grab each others hands and walk to my car. They would go ahead of me and talk about gym, lunch, class time, and homework. There was something special about this time and I will miss witnessing it.

Now, the school year is basically complete. I wanted to cherish all of this more, but living in the moment you often forget to do this. What hurts most is knowing there were days that I wanted this school year to be over, but in reality I never did. I liked knowing that the boys had each other in the same building if there was ever an emergency. I loved being able to see both of their smiling faces if I happened to stop by to help in one classroom or the other.

In September, things will be different. NHL will be off to a new adventure in middle school and JSL will continue along for the next four years in elementary school. As summer break is about to begin, my goal is to relax and enjoy the time with the boys. I want to have fun, explore, and help them to make special memories. We will try not to worry about the unknown that lies ahead of us with middle school and keep focused on summer and the next two months we have together.