A Space for Grace

It’s September. ‘Back to School’ season is upon us, and for those on social media, it can be a daunting time.

Beautiful children in new outfits line my facebook feed. They sport backpacks and hold chalkboards or fingers indicating what grade they are entering.

Pictures of sandwiches shaped like butterflies, homemade healthy snacks, and fruit arranged like bouquets pop up on Pinterest.

Thirty days of crockpot meals you can pull out of a Ziploc bag and thirty bins of thirty food choices taunt you from twitter.

It’s inspiring. Really, it is. I love to look at the pictures, and truth be told, I made a couple of charts myself.

The thing is, lovely as my charts are ( – they’re gorgeous. I’ve colour-coded them with each child having their own colour, and each activity a coordinating shade. It’s a rainbow of delight) they are pretty two-dimensional on their own. I’m the third dimension. I’m the one who has to translate the paper dream to hard-living reality.

The first two days of school were great. Healthy, homemade lunches were packed the night before and preserved with a cold-pack. The children were well-dressed and arrived at school on time.

Day three was a little different. Lunch was made in the morning. Only one of the kids got a whole-grain wrap (I miscounted. Don’t ask how I decided which one to bless with the nutrients) so the others are eating white, refined carbohydrates. We can’t find the cold-packs; I guess bacteria won the war today. ‘New’ t-shirts are being re-worn, even though they sport some of last night’s supper.

And those pictures remain untaken. For the fifth year in a row. I have no cute photos of my four darlings lined up in the sunshine, sporting smiles and clean clothes. I have nothing to prove my children are advancing ever onward.

So I have decided to post another genre of picture. Instead of first day of school pictures, I will be posting, ‘I have kids, they go to school’ pictures.

My proof you ask?

Backpacks on the floor.

Newsletters on the counter.

Fundraising campaigns which are already underway. (Yes, I know you want an hour or two to celebrate a quiet house, but there are coupon-books to sell!)

And these gorgeous little people.

They are my kids and they go to school.

Happy September!