Welcome back, Monday!

I need to catch my breath. Could anyone else use a moment, too? I'll wait.

September is my new year (in many ways). Even before becoming a parent of a school-age child, my 456 years in school have trained my senses to know a proper new year when they meet one. I feel September all the way down to my toes, toes that ought to be sporting brand new back to school shoes. Even in the first year of my PhD I bought back to school shoes, beautiful red leather Mary Janes, in celebration of the new year. Now, of course, I have new September rituals, but the feelings are the same. There is so much potential (which I adore) in September's air, but more than that there is action. A lot of action.

I guess it has to do with the beginningness of September, but there are just so many things to be done this month. No other season begins so abruptly as fall does in September, and no other time when I rush out to accomplish so many tasks. Of course I love buying summer sandals as much as the next shoe enthusiast, and I often find myself craving the early summer harvest of asparagus and strawberries months in advance. And as much as I love winter, there isn't a single moment that defines the beginning of winter for me (Thanksgiving in Canada happens far too early to help usher in winter. It is firmly a fall holiday). No, it is September's suggestion of fall that gets me every time. Time to get moving.

Needless to say, the first week of September has been a busy one. First the girls and I joined some friends at the Toronto Zoo to mark the last day of summer vacation. Then there was the baking of the night-before-senior kindergarten macaroni and cheese along with the first-day-of-senior kindergarten chocolate chip cookies (make sure you use the really good salt). Next we welcomed a new routine of Matt walking Alyce to school while Shira and I waited for the afternoon to roll around so we could pick her up. Every morning we had to remember to pack her backpack with her lunch, snacks, and water, and then remember to walk to school an hour later to drop off the things we had forgotten. There were after schools snacks (that's where the cookies came in handy) with glasses of milk big enough for dunking. In between all of this there were dinner parties with old (for Matt) and new (for me) friends, a birthday party for another friend (perhaps the most impressive forty year old I've ever met), and a week filled with cooking, something I haven't felt like doing in a long time. I'm exhausted just writing it all down.

And now we get to get started all over again! But since I'm such a nerd for Mondays, I don't even mind at all. I've decided that since I'm not quite busy enough that I'll add a few extra posts into my rotation again. It's feels like months since I've posted regularly and I miss writing here, especially the opportunity to capture my days right now. I hope to see you back here again, too. Maybe you'll tell me what your week looks like?

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