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Well, this is it. School starts this week, and for the first time since I myself was in school, I'm not cheerily tacking up "bon voyage" banners and breaking out the champagne. Dare I say it? I think I'm actually going to miss my kids when the school bus carts them off in a couple of days.

I took my 4th grader to his new school the other night to see his classroom and enjoy a movie courtesy of the PTO. Since then, I've been moping around like I'm the one who's about to start classes. I'm not exactly sure why this is, but I suspect it's because my kids are older and therefore more fun to be around. For the first time, I didn't spend the summer fixing lunches, cleaning up, fixing snacks, cleaning up, admonishing the kids to eat the popsicles outside, wiping up the drips. This year they got their own food and (mostly) cleaned up after themselves. I broke up a few sibling fights, but not as many as in the past. When my youngest was bored, I'd send him off on his bike in search of a friend to play with. Last summer, he was still too young to go off on his own.

Now I know what other parents mean when they say summer is too short. Hopefully the adjustment back to school will be a smooth one for all of us.