Summer's Gone

Summer vacation here & gone

   not enough time...

      for layin' in the sun,

         watching clouds breeze by,

             or chasin' fire flies.

Another school year crept up too fast.

My kids,
growing and moving at the speed of light.
My eyes & brain unable to fathom
their yearly transformations.

They're excited, nervous, anxious

moving up a grade, new school, college bound.

Yet, if they only knew

that I feel the same...

for them, not me, as they face the new year.

Tears well up in my eyes as they start this yearly journey

   new friends, old friends, maybe an enemy

      teachers and classes, some they love, some not so much.

Homework, quizzes & tests, papers & projects.

Hopeful they'll cope, scared they'll choke.

Pacing and waiting for their day to end...

"How did it go?"

"Did you ace your test?"

My worry usually proven unnecessary

    but occasionally perfectly warranted.

I will stress away the year,

     things will end exactly as they should.

Everyone will have grown,

       I will have aged, too much.

Next thing you know another summer break,

    around the corner.

The process inevitable!