Sebastian had his first day in public school today. It marked the end of our summer and in many ways the end of a chapter of life for us. To this point we’ve always kept a flexible family schedule. I work remote on many Sundays and with Fridays and Saturdays usually off, we’ve taken many 3- or 4-day weekends over the years. Family time and family trips have always been a priority in our planning.
But school brings many changes and among them is the addition of a new five-day schedule for a part of our family. Sebastian has school from 8-3 every week from Monday to Friday. He only gets 10 absences a semester. That may not seem like a severe limitation, and perhaps it won’t prove to be, but we already have plans for a trip to visit my brother in Hawai’i next month that will use six of his days off. Perhaps we won’t have the occasion to use the remaining four, much less exceed his quote. Even so, I’m suddenly mindful of the new constraints and the time we had as a family seems a little more scarce.
It may be that scarcity will add heft to the still plentiful time we do have together. The new strictures will certainly mean that we pay more attention to find out. In that attention paying, I’m resolved to document the slow fade of my children’s youth. I don’t want to dramatize the process, or remove myself from the experience I document. But I think looking through the lens regularly will help us appreciate what we still have and better prepare the changing seasons ahead.