I’ve always had a thing for my kids and their shoes. When Talan was a baby/toddler, I’d always get him these soft sole Pumas. At one point I thought I’d save them and put them all in a shadow box to display at his High School graduation. Insert eye rolls and ‘you’ve gone crazy’ comments from my husband. But shoes are so symbolic to me. Their little feet. They show just how much they’ve grown. (Like thinking Talan could wear his basketball shoes from winter league basketball for basketball camp this last week. And having to get him a pair of shoes a whole size and a half bigger…with having to ask if he could just make it through his first day in his old shoes. Mom fail right there.) And now…this mama can fit into her 9 year old son’s school shoes. I never thought this day would come! (I do have small feet, but still!) I’m wearing my son’s shoes. Cue all the tears.
A new school year is upon us. We just met Talan’s teacher at his new school this past week. Oh my goodness. She’s seriously the best thing ever. And the perfect teacher for our Mr. Serious. She’s a hoot! I mean, when a teacher talks about having the kids working in a chocolate factory…with REAL chocolate as a classroom project, how can she NOT be the best teacher ever? He’s going to have a great year this year and I’m excited to watch him blossom even more.
I feel like the month of August is just as expensive as Christmas time getting everyone prepared. It’s also an extremely emotional time for this Mama. I guess what isn’t? But seriously. I remember Kylan’s preschool teacher last year at ‘Meet the Teacher’ night. All she did was say ‘Hi!’ And I seriously started bawling. Like ugly crying. She had to get a box of tissues. I kept telling myself, ‘It’s preschool Mandy. Pull yourself together!’ But the more I thought that, the harder I started crying. It means they’re growing even more so. And as exhausting as it is having them home with me 24/7, now they’re leaving the safe space my husband and I built for them.
And their shoes have to be replaced.
These shoes (minus Isla’s) will be what they walk in daily at school. They’ll be with them meeting new friends. Playing sports. Going on field trips. Learning more and more each day. They’ll be in a Lutheran school this year. They’ll be learning more and more about Jesus. Jesus will walk with them daily in these shoes. They’ll get worn. And tired. But they’ll make more memories. They may not even last the whole school year, but last years did…for two of them, surprisingly.
Every year I made sure to get a good picture from head to toe, to have some sort of documentation of their shoes that carried them through the year.
Apparently I didn’t get the sign memo for Talan’s first year of Preschool. Or actually, I think I did make a sign but I wasn’t happy with it. Oh well. But here’s my trip down memory lane…with new shoes and all.
Some years they got the shoes I wanted, and some years I had to pick my battles. But they are the shoes that walked with them. They were there when I was not. And I’m excited to see how much they grow – physically, mentally, and spiritually, in this school year…and hear about where these shoes have walked with them in all of their school days.
~xoxo
Living With Intention and Giving Myself Grace 