Hooray! School Starts Soon!

Only two more weeks until school starts here. And I can hardly wait!

Don't get me wrong. I enjoy spending time with my kids, but it is so much different now that two of them are teens. I enjoy the constant in and out of their friends, being asked to hang out for a while with them as if I still count as a cool person, and the ability to maybe just maybe pass along some of the hard earned wisdom that I think I possess.

But teens are herd animals. They graze constantly. They do no consistently clean up their messes, though for some reason the visiting teen will be more helpful than those who actually live in a house. When the herd does dispense to go to their own dens, there is always the chance that something will be left behind. The more important the item, the more likely it will be left at someone else's home, creating a frantic situation to locate said object scant moments before it is needed.

Work shirts, athletic shoes, textbooks or project notes for summer projects, even car keys from riding over with someone else have the treasures sought. The phone calls usually comes from a cell phone, and if the missing item is here it is only a matter of moments before a car squeals into the driveway (no small feat considering ours is made of gravel) and the relieved teen rushes into the house and thanks me as if I had managed to find the cure for final exams.

Their enthusiasm usually leaves me with the incredible need to take a nap.

The one who usually feels left out is Alex. He will try to fit in with the teens, dragging out his most prized action figures or video game in the hopes of being included. Anne, the oldest, usually doesn't mind and her male friends will get down in the floor and join in a good old fashioned battle of plastic warriors. Alan, though, is trying to establish his place in the teen world. At 13, the ultimate blow to his ego is when Alex interrupts the teen rituals of listening to really loud music by bands no one will remember in 10 years or the consumption of the pizza bites while discussing how the establishment just doesn't understand today's youth.

It doesn't matter that before the herd descended upon our house, he had been engaged in the battle of all battles in video game supremacy against Alex while playing Lego Star Wars or that they will still watch the same cartoons. Alan is trying to fit in with the older kids, and it is a surprise to him to know that these cool, older guys still play.

The real reason I will be glad when school starts is not that the chaos will somewhat diminish here in the house, but that my three kids will be back in their respective comfort zones. They will be able to put into practice some of what I hope they learned this summer. They will be exposed to new learning opportunities.

And maybe, just maybe, they will miss the time they spent together this summer and the bonds between them will grow.