Lady of the House
by Sharon J. O'Donnell
Confetti and Tissues
Jason, my son #3 goes off to kindergarten next week, and I’m not yet sure what my reaction will be. My other sons, ages 12 and 15, are quite a bit older than my “baby” so it’s been a while since I’ve done the ‘walk him in on the first day’ thing. I remember the uneasiness, the question marks, the walk down the hallway with each of them.
Yet, I also remember the relief I felt, particularly with Billy, my oldest, that I’d have more time to myself. The first time Billy went to kindergarten I was amazed when I saw the TA had organized a “Tissue Tea” for the moms of kindergarteners. He was ready for school, and I was ready to have some time with just his younger brother so I was pretty excited about Billy’s big step. Tissue tea? I remember thinking, “Hell, where’s the confetti?”
With Jason, I think I might now fully understand the need for tissues. This will not only mark a change for him, but also for me. For the past 15 years, I’ve either had a baby, toddler, or pre-schooler in the house (except for David’s kindergarten year when I was pregnant with Jason). It will feel strange, and somehow, sad, that stage of my life has come to an end. And like they say, it passed by so incredibly quickly. My arms will always ache to hold my babies again.
Getting Jason up in the mornings will be a challenge, too. With my other sons having to get up at six o’clock, you’d think it’d be no problem getting Jason to school at nine. But I’ve found throughout his pre-school years, that my being up early doesn’t necessarily mean Jason will be on time. I get busy with computer work, laundry, and other things between the time the older boys walk out the door until the time I have to take Jason. Sometimes Jason’s allergies act up suddenly in the mornings, also, setting off a routine of medicine and ointments. Luckily, in pre-school, being late wasn’t that big of a deal, but it will be in kindergarten.
My older boys, naturally, don’t like having to get up so early. Once last year when Billy and David were lying in bed and complaining about getting up, Jason, whom we thought was asleep, shouted from his room, “Life sucks and then you die.”
He obviously had been listening a bit too well when my husband replied to Billy’s protests about mowing the grass.
The morning routine at our house is always interesting.
The upside to Jason’s starting kindergarten is that I’ll be able to get more of my ‘list of things to do’ actually done during the day. I can work on my book (for release in late November), exercise at the gym, have lunch with friends, teach writing classes, or even (be still, my heart) go to an afternoon movie by myself.
And I’ll be here waiting when the bus drops Jason off at the end of the day, ready to listen to stories of the new friends he’s made and the wonderful things he’s learned. Ready to watch my little boy grow up.
Sharon J.
O’Donnell is an award-winning newspaper columnist, who specializes in
humor columns. Since 1998, Sharon has been a columnist for The Cary
News, in Cary, NC (just outside of Raleigh) and has won awards for
those columns. She has also written for Good Housekeeping, The News
& Observer, and Blue
Mountain Arts greeting
cards.
Sharon
is a 1984 graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
(she used to live in the same dorm as Michael Jordan!!) with a degree in
print/broadcast journalism. Since then she’s worked in radio
promotions, special events planning, public speaking, and public
relations.
Her current project is a humorous book of
essays about what it’s like to be the only woman in a houseful of males,
dealing with a husband, three sons, and a male dog.
Sharon also writes fiction. In 1997,
her novel manuscript, Hand-Me-Downs, was a finalist in the Heekin
Group Foundation’s James Fellowship for the novel-in-progress division.
An excerpt from her current novel-in-progress, Bluebirds Fly, was
published in the Sunday Reader section of The News & Observer,
the Raleigh paper, in December of 2002. In the spring of 2003, she won
third place in the short story division of The Paul Gillette Memorial
Writing Contest, sponsored by the Pikes Peak Writers Conference.
Since 2000, she’s taught narrative writing through
week-long writing residency workshops in schools and is a
writer-in-residence through the United Arts Council. She has also done
public relations consulting that has resulted in successful media
coverage for various programs and events.
Jacob’s Ladder, a volunteer group she helped start in honor of
her nephew who underwent a successful bone marrow transplant in 1993,
won a national award called the HOPE award in 1997 for raising testing
money and promoting the bone marrow registry to minorities.
She lives in Cary with her husband Kevin and their three sons
ages 14, 11, and 5 (ages of this writing in late 2005).
Her Websites are
www.momsofboys.org and
www.sharonodonnell.com.
|
