This summer has been scary-easy. The kids have been running around the yard from dawn until dusk. I think the temperature has only broken ninety degrees one or two days. It’s been a summer illustrated with chalk drawings on the driveway and glow-sticks floating through twilight as the kids chase each other on the wet grass. Everyone goes to bed later than usual, thinking that we’re cheating time since the sun takes so long to sink below the pines to our west, but then we are yawning our faces off when Noah and Luke thump down the stairs at their usual six-thirty a.m. hissing at us for juice and cartoons. Still, we can slowly wake up with the windows open, listening to the birds, while eating over bowls of cereal or plates of eggs and toast.

We’ve had a handful of barbecues with good friends and family and after we swim for a few hours getting pink and prune-y, we wave our banners of relaxation, hanging our bright blue and red beach towels around the fence to dry in the late-afternoon sun. It’s been all bonfires, bubbles and backyard fireworks, just weeks of simplicity which is exactly why I should have known that change was coming.

It’s always in those times of complacency, when our snow-globes get shaken just a little. Now, this wasn’t anything earth-shattering by any means, but it was enough to put my stomach into knots for the past week.

I won’t go too much into detail because I know that no official announcements have been made but basically, we are pulling our boys from the school they have gone to for the past two years and putting them in a different school on the other side of town.  

It was a decision that was literally painful to mull over. I went to high school at the school we’ve been sending them to. The same principal oversees it. Many of the same teachers are there. I feel like a traitor on some level but when I look at our kids, I feel in my heart we are making a good choice. While I believe the school will provide a quality education, it just isn’t a good fit for us anymore.

Still I am sad. Our entire family has made some great friendships with the students and other parents. We have even found Gracie and little friend who was born twelve days before she was and would probably be in the same class if we’d have stayed at the school. Her mom and I used to wait outside the preschool classroom every day and commiserate over our pregnancies.

Change always sneaks up on us, doesn’t it? I write about that a lot. I guess I shouldn’t be so surprised. C.S. Lewis put it so well when he said, “Isn’t it funny how day by day nothing changes, but when you look back, everything is different…” I find myself thinking of that quote a lot lately.

I am so wary of change. I did read recently that one difference between positive people and negative people is that optimistic thinkers usually embrace change. They see new opportunities, not obstacles. And it’s true! Change can be great. For instance, when I try a new route during a run and find a really beautiful stretch of dirt road I haven’t been down before, it becomes a good motivator to get me out running more. When I decided to stop eating meat, I was nervous at first, but now I am really happy about it. It’s been almost three years since I had a piece of chicken or a hamburger.

And I really believe this is another one of those times when change is going to be a good thing. So, I am going to really embrace everything this decision is leading us to. This is also an opportunity to be a true friend by doing my best to keep the good friendships we’ve made.

Side note:

Speaking of good change, Scott surprised me a few minutes ago by taking me out to the garage and there in between our cars was a…

 RUNNING STROLLER!!!!

I am so excited to start using it! I have been wanting one forever! Grace is going to love it! I can’t wait to take her for a spin tomorrow!! My whole world feels like it is bursting with opportunity!! How am I going to sleep tonight?!! SO MANY EXCLAMATION MARKS!!!!!!!