Enjoying first day moments and memories

One of the great things about having a mixed bag of friends - some of whom have no children and some of whom have children who are at completely different stages from your own - is that you’re less likely to get too blinkered and self-absorbed with everything that's going on in your own, or your own kids', lives at any given time. 

During the past week or so, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed hearing about - and looking through lots of cute photos of – some of my friends’ kids as they set off on their first day at school. It’s such a special occasion, and a pretty emotional time for most parents, though, it’s worth remembering that the whole buzz around 'first day' also creates a difficult and painful set of emotions for the many women who either can’t have children or who've lost a child. And, it can also be a pretty irritating time for women who’ve chosen not to have kids!

One of my volunteer-work colleagues said to me recently that August is the worst month of the year for childless-through-choice women! After patiently listening to me enthuse about all the photos I'd just been looking at on Facebook of various friends' kids first day at either Primary or High School, my colleague said,  “I hate August. It's not only those dreaded words 'Would you like to see some photos..?' that I hate. First, we have to listen to all sorts of fretting over impending Higher and Standard Grade exam results, then we have to Congratulate or Commiserate depending on the actual results received, then we have to ‘ooh and aahh’ over all the ‘first day at school’ photos and then we have to listen to the emotional wrecks who can’t cope with the idea of their grown-up children leaving home for Uni or college or a new job! I hate August!".

She made me laugh, but I guess she did have a point. Still, I know plenty of other women who don't have children of their own, but love to spend time with, or show off photos of, their neices or nephews or their friends' kids.

I guess the point I'm trying to make is that spending time with a variety of different folk keeps you grounded and is a constant reminder that there are always important things going on in other people's lives too - it's good to be reminded that the world doesn’t always have to revolve around us or our own children. (Nope, it doesn't - honest!) 

Speaking of my own children, I’m psyching myself up at the moment for the next big change in our family; Ross moving out for Uni. I’m at the stage of welling up every time I think about it - don't get me wrong, I'm extremely happy and excited and looking forward to this next stage in his life blah, blah - but that doesn't stop me from feeling sad and thinking about how much I'll miss him too. Our family's 'first day at school' experiences seem such a long time ago now (probably because they were..!) and I still can't quite believe that we're now well-and-truly at the 'first day at Work/Uni/Some Other Grown Up Thing' stage! I've got a treasured set of photographs chronicling our 'first day at school' journey - from the first picture of wee Gemma standing out in our garden in her P1 uniform, smiling and raring to go to school, to the last picture of big Gordon standing in the house in his 5^th Year uniform, impatiently smiling and ... not quite raring to go to school! In between, there are thirteen other photos making up the set; including some with just one or two of my kids in their Primary school uniforms, some with a mixture of high school and primary school uniforms, and some with all three in high school gear. Treasured memories indeed. In fact, I just wondered, would you like to see some photos..........?!

No matter what age the kids are, and whether only one, two, or all three of them are going, first days - or first days back - have always been special in the house of Milne!