And so school starts. It has been a little more than a week since the first day of Grade 1 for the Lilliputians. The December school holiday was long, and I was not sorry when the 17th of January rolled around. Do not get me wrong, our holiday was amazing.
You will remember that the first day of Grade R did not go so smoothly, but Grade 1 was at least tearless. Lisa looked a little watery there for a bit, but got distracted by the unpacking of stationery (she is mine).
Hannes charged in and showed me that he is sitting right at the back of the class. This, I am sure, will change soon. Lisa is sitting right at the front in her class, and totally content to be there.
First day also meant homework, of which Lisa completed hers and then started erasing her brother’s so that she can redo his – not up to standard, you see.
Not a lot has changed.
Hannes marches in and gets high fives from kids that I have not even seen on a photograph. Lisa stands back and waits for the commotion to pass. I really can some days not believe that they were inside me at the same time.
We also had our first athletics. Turns out the Du Toit siblings are my kids too, and not that fast. We, the parents, were however there to witness this from the stands and left after they ran the 80 m’s.
Shortly after my first meeting this morning, a friend phones to say that she is at school picking up her daughter and little Lisa is not happy at all. My communication was not great, and she did not know that they were still going to aftercare. Maybe she was hoping that we will take them home. She promised to dry the tears and let her know. So the mom guilt therefore kicked in shortly after lunch, at which time another friend phones, to say that he was just at school and Hannes’s bag has been abandoned (they had at this time already gone to aftercare). So I go to school to pick up the forgotten bag. I wonder if he has already figured out that he does not have it. I wonder if he is worried.
See, if you pick them up in the afternoons from aftercare, you get the Lisa loaddown, where she lists everything that had gone to school and confirms that it is all in her backpack. Hannes, during this time, is collecting everything from everywhere, usually to have to return for a second round of “I forgot my school shoes”. They may be twins… they are not the same.
As I am writing this I am making plans to pick them up a little earlier and at the same time enjoying a moment where my thoughts can happen one after the other. Sheesh, it feels like… it never stops. The last few weeks have been filled with nights where little people and old dogs wake me up and I then remain awake, because I am not a 19 year-old free spirit anymore. This in turn means that I am ready for my nap around 11 in the morning…
I hope that things will settle. Then maybe my mind will settle too.
Our first Sunday back in church was last week, where the minister did the usual “happy new year” thing. In Afrikaans, we say, “voorspoedige nuwejaar”, which in essence means, may you be prosperous, may your endeavours be successful etc. Not a bad wish. He however gave some grounding when he said: “May God’s will be done in your life this year”. And what a perfect and honest wish. Because within God’s will it may not always be easygoing, and successful and simple. Some of it may be hard and challenging, but if we know that we are moving within the will of God, then we know that we are not alone.
This first few days of school has really been challenging. And yes, I know it is only the beginning, but clearly I am not great with change. But within all this chaos, we can still remember that we are moving within God’s will and God’s plan and that within that he will protect our steps.
I booked tickets for a musical this week as well, and when we tried to explain to the Lilliputians what it is, the Engineer and I did our best rendition of “Do Ray Me” – we were so chuffed that we still knew the lyrics. We, however, made Hannes cry. Actual tears. We will not be quitting our day jobs just yet.