by Richard
Today is the day. The last day of summer vacation for public school students here in North Carolina. While Zippy the Monkey Boy has been in private school for about a week or so by now, this is the last day for my other two little dudes to enjoy the summer and really, really dread what’s coming next. And what’s coming next is yet another year of school. And another manila folder.
See, every year at the start of school, I get out three manila folders. On each one, I print one little dude’s name and the grade that little dude is in that year. During the school year, I collect their grades, their projects, slip in a couple of cool pictures, and put in anything else that catches my eye and I think they will want to see in 20 years. But collecting material for each folder is slightly bittersweet. Not only did I have to mark Speed Racer as a fifth grader and almost out of elementary school, and Zippy the Monkey Boy as a sophomore (again his grade finally matching his sense of humor), but I had to mark Sarcasmo as a *gulp* junior. There’s only two more school years and he’ll be off to college and out of the house.
I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. It could go either way.
That’s the odd thing about summers. I love having more time to spend with the little dudes during summer, when we can go off and do fun stuff at the drop of a hat. However, summers also mean a severe decline in me time as the little dudes are around more, stay up later and generally eat into my time. Even with that, though, I can say I really love summers.
By the time late August approaches, I and the little dudes are — just a little bit — pining for school. They want to see their buddies at school again and I want to have a little time to myself, if only to get in more exercise so I don’t turn into more of a bloated tub of goo.
So, summer ended and I collected up the manila folders and carried them upstairs into the attic, where I have plastic storage boxes for each little dude. I’ve got school stuff dating back to 1998, when Sarcasmo hit kindergarten. I suppose I’ll have folders all the way through 2017, when Speed Racer is slated to graduate from high school.
I just hope the little dudes appreciate the little slices of their lives I’ve set aside for them to look at later on. A chance to see their lives as they were lived when they were little. I’ll have my memories and they’ll have their manila folders. Should be about even.
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