Tuesday marked the first day of school for the kids, and the first day in 13 years when [Kathy->] has been at home during the day without responsibility for children. She drove [Liam->] and [Maggie->] up to school, both to help Maggie make the adustment and to keep us from having to get up at 6:00am so that they could catch the bus. (The great elementary school our house is right next to is being knocked down and rebuilt over the next year and a half, so the smaller kids are getting bussed all the way across the highway to the old Bowie Elementary building.) The jury’s still out on whether she’ll be driving as a matter of habit, but for the time being it seems to be working out well.

Maggie’s been having a bit of a tough time with the transition, as she’s not been away from home this much before. Fortunately, I think having Liam at the same school has helped some, as she told us the other day that Liam had seen her crying in the hallway at some point during the day and came over to give her a hug and make her feel better. The bus system is also taking time to sort out: the older girls were an hour and a half late the first day, and a fair fraction of that the second day. Hopefully all of this will get sorted out quickly, but in the meantime it certainly makes things challenging for all of us!

The question of how Kathy will be spending her time is an interesting one. For this semester she has committed to watching the baby of a friend from church who is finishing up her degree. Yesterday and today she changed out the brake pads on our Escort, an accomplishment that impressed me mightily. She’s considering college again in the Spring, either to finish out the Physical/Recreation Therapy stuff she had started a decade ago or to get a nursing degree. Stay tuned — I’ll post more details as they become clear.