I love Back to School time.  Really, I love all new beginnings.  I love the newness and freshness of all things new!  I secretly celebrate the first day of each month, first days of each season, etc.  It’s a little nuts!

Sunday night, First Day of School Eve, I made homemade lasagna for dinner because it’s always a crowd pleaser.  My family sat down to the table, prayed about school the next day and started chowing down.  We chatted about our kids’ hopes for the school year, if they were scared about anything, etc.  Then I had decided that I was going to do my own version of Glennon Melton’s letter to her son.

I had thought about this a lot in the weeks leading up to this moment, and I could feel the emotion welling up within me.  So I started talking to my big kiddo about to begin second grade about the one thing that I would change about my life – one time that I was really mean to another kid.  This is really the only thing that I would choose to change about my life.  I’ve always felt horrible about it.  I only got a few words into my little speech before I started boohooing.  Somehow I made it through the talk.  My kiddo’s not great about being serious pretty much ever, so he wasn’t sure what to think about mom’s little talk/breakdown but I know he heard me…and hopefully some of it sunk in.

I don’t cry much, so I was a little embarrassed by it all until I realized that my husband was being very serious about it.  None of us in our family are really ever very serious.  Humor is our go-to defense mechanism.  Probably not the best way to handle things, but it is what it is. 🙂  Then I told a good friend about this experience and then a few more, and I was encouraged by their sweet comments.  And that made me feel good about it all.

I want desperately to teach my kids everything I’ve learned about life, joy, pain, God, etc.  I know they will make their own mistakes along the way, but I want to give them as much tools and help as I can.  But when they do make mistakes, I will be there to scoop them up, hold them and let them know that I’ve been there and that it will be OK.