September

... is upon us.  This means another summer has passed and, again, it has passed without my being able to take advantage of it.  Last summer I was studying for finals so didn't get to really go on holiday or take advantage of the fact that it was summer.  This summer was occupied by the move and so I once again had to give up on vacations and all things summery.  It sucks.  Especially because I so need a vacation.  This year has caused me nothing but stress and I've been completely unable to get away anywhere and destress.

I have at least tried to make the last week or two somewhat relaxing.  We visited with some local friends, went to see friends in the old 'hood a couple of times and we spent a few days last week visiting with my family.  The kids *love* hanging with their cousins so I made sure they could do as much of that as possible, while I also got to see my family and a couple friends of my own.  I even managed to have a couple of beers, although it was lunchtime and I had to drive so couldn't indulge as much as I would have liked.  Hopefully, now that we are close to friends and family on both sides of the border, we'll have much more opportunity to visit and have fairly regular mini-breaks.

Nonetheless, summer is over and school starts tomorrow.  My kids are starting a new school again.  This will be their fourth school each, although some of the transitions have been within the same school district allowing them to stay with their friends.  Still, it's a lot of transitioning.  At least my daughter has managed to stay at elementary school the whole time.  My son went to two different elementary schools, then upper elementary, then middle school and he's now back at elementary school for a year before heading off to high school.  It's a bit of a mess and not at all what I intended for my children.  Luckily, they adapt well to change and I'm sure this won't cause too many difficulties for them.

The biggest adjustment has been to the idea that they skipped a grade with this move.  Whether or not there is a difference in curriculum remains to be seen but the fact is that my daughter just went from fourth grade to grade six and my son went from sixth grade to grade eight.  I don't think they'll have too much trouble academically as they are both bright children but the skip puts them even further behind in French, which will make it even more difficult to catch up.  My daughter's biggest concern with skipping a grade is that if we ever move back to Michigan she won't be in the same grade as her friends.  My son's biggest concern is that he now only has one more year before he starts high school, which is a big mental adjustment to make.  Again, I know they'll be fine and soon enough I'm sure none of us will ever notice that anything unusual happened this year at all (except for the gap in the collection of school photos...).

As for me, I am planning to get back to unpacking as soon as the kids get back to school.  I have quite a few other things to do this week as well (setting up accounts, paying bills, applying for health coverage, etc) so I will be busy.  I also keep scanning the job postings in hopes that I might one day actually get a job.  I apply every now and then but so far nothing has materialized.  Maybe now that the kids are back in school, the universe will work with me and something will happen -- the way it's supposed to.