My Babies Are Growing Up...

The first day of school has come and gone and I survived! That's right - I said me...not the kids, but me.

I often feel that the parents are the one's with more anxieties than the children when it comes to the first day of school. This morning, as it is each year at their school, they gather in the common circle for a celebration prayer. Each child arrives and sits with his/her class (except for Katie). At the end of the morning, Katie finds a friend from school, runs off and finds her classroom all on her own. When I arrived to say "goodbye" she asked "Mom, what are you doing here?" Like I ever left! Somehow, all morning, my nerves of how will she be when I say goodbye were put to rest as I left her smiling and playing with her new friends on the ABC carpet.

As I was driving home, I realized that this school year will be many firsts for our family - for the first time, they will finally all be at the same school; my oldest, Max, will be learning French for the first time; for the first time, my middle son, Jake, will no longer be the youngest at the school; my youngest, Katie, will be going full time to Pre-K and for the first time, I will be in a home alone all day!

Here's to wishing the 2009-2010 school year is a great success! *Clink *Clink

The Importance of Having a Best Friend...

September 2nd...To many of you it's the countdown to the upcoming Labor Day weekend. However, for me, it's always a special day I get to help my best friend, Kerri, celebrate her birthday.

And tonight I did just that with her husband, father, brother, her 4 boys and some of her good friends. At one point during the evening Kerri introduced me to a good friend of hers and said, "Blah, Blah, Blah - I'd like you to meet my best friend since 9th grade."

WOW - 9th grade. Have I really known her that long?! At first it made me feel old...but then (while I was fortunate enough to be holding her little baby boy...so yummie and sweet!) I got to thinking how incredibly blessed I am to have had her in my life for all these years.

Having a best friend has been often defined as important aspect in life because of the need to make connections to other people on deeper levels. When something goes wrong in your life, you can turn to a best friend first in order to get things straight again. No matter what is happening, a best friend becomes important because of their ability to reach you on levels that others may not have been able to.

And, for me, that's exactly what she's been able to do.

Through the years, we have participated together in some incredibly stupid things. Things we are only now sharing with our parents knowing we can no longer be grounded for our actions! And things we will never share with our children until they have children of their own!

However, there have also been some incredibly precious and life changing moments as well.

So tonight I reflect on the beauty that is our friendship and thank God for the blessing he has given to me, in our friendship, everyday.

Happy Birthday Kerri! I love you.