Can I breathe now?

Both my kids are back in school. It's so difficult for me to accept that back to school means something very different in my life than it had for so long. My daughter is back to school...but as the teacher, not my child the student. She was promoted into a special program for this year that means more money, but it also means more responsibility and more work. She's stressing out a bit this week, but I'm sure she'll be fine once she establishes a routine. I'm so proud of her. She was planning to start grad school this fall. With the new responsibilities at work, I'm glad she's waiting.

My son also has returned to school, too. But there was no back-to-school shopping. No new backpack or sneakers or lunch box. I got him a pack of mechanical pencils and notebook filler paper. AND I wrote a couple huge tuition and textbook checks but it's just not the same.

Backing up to three years ago when he was a HS Senior...That was the year my parents became ill and I was with them every weekend... then almost every weekend and a few times during the week. It eased up some when my mom went into the nursing home, but that was at the end of the school year. He is a great kid and managed with no apparent trouble, but it meant that his mom was telling him what he should be doing (ie completing applications, following up contacts by interested college coaches, ordering the corsage for prom) instead of helping him. He waited so late to apply to any schools (April the idiot!) he didn't get into his first choice when based on his grades and SAT's it should have been a certainty. Anyway, he was pretty depressed about that and was hedging going to another school so he actually listened to his parents and went to the local Community College. He did real well for two semesters. He had two friends at the CC with him and a bunch of friends who were Seniors in HS so he seemed pretty content. That spring his dad and I couldn't get him interested into applying to four year schools. We suggested he stay a third semester at the CC. That ended up being a big mistake. All his friends were away at school and he was taking a bunch of classes that didn't interest him. His dad and I kept saying that we wouldn't be disappointed if he chose to quit school but he had to have a "plan". We weren't going to let him quit, work some minimum wage job and freeload off mom and dad. He came home one evening and announced that the store where he worked had offered him a full-time manager's job and he wanted to quit school for a year to do that. We told him that was a perfectly acceptable "plan".

During the past year, he has been working full-time and pretty much nothing else. I've been concerned that he wouldn't return to school, but also appreciate that he has to decide for himself exactly what he wants to do. He has insisted that he wants a college education and he recognizes that he does NOT have any saleable skills right now other than retail management, but he's just immature enough to not be able to make decisions. I honestly believe that a bachelor's or higher degree may not be for everyone and there are plenty of other options, but he needed SOME training or someTHING more than he has right now.

Out of the blue almost, he announced one evening this summer that he had met with an admissions counselor at the nearby four-year university and registered for classes. He will take four classes each semester of this year CC but is enrolled at the university also. Next August he will begin taking classes at the university (he is already accepted) to complete his BBA. If he is working for a BBA, and working an average of 32 hours/week at his job, his employer will pay 100% of his expenses for two classes a semester. His plan is to take four each semester so that he will have no debt when he graduates...even if it takes an extra semester. I think it's a great "plan" and only hope that 4 classes and a full-time job won't be too much. I know he is capable of the school work. It's the time management that worries me.

But he's a really great young man. And I'm proud that he's made a few decisions about his life and future.

Didn't expect this to be so long. But I could brag about my kids forever. I'll close with that.