Tomorrow morning, bright and early, seven children will pack their bags.

They’ll pack their bags and put on their shiniest school shoes.

Three will head off to their very first day of highschool

Two will be entering their senior stage of primary and

two will be starting preschool.

All my babies.

The highschool kids are scared beyond measure.

I’m scared for them.

It’s a big step, highschool.

New school, new uniforms, new routines, new expectations.

It’s a time when everything changes.

I know they’ll be fine and it’s okay to be scared but still…

What’s more is that I am a mother to highschoolers.

What’s with that?

I am way too young to have young people in highschool.

I feel a midlife crisis coming on.

Lily is going back to school on her own for the first time ever.

She has always been with the big kids.

Mal is moving into the senior group in his special needs class

and preschool?

My head is spinning.

Tomorrow seven children will walk into their future

and I

will have my first day off, child free, in over three years.

What will I do without them?