Ready or not, here I go!

by Carlos

So the count down is nearing the end; less than two weeks left in pre-school for 2 of my girls. Damai is sad because she says she'll miss her teacher. Lani is excited because she wants to go to the beach more often. And Ana, my 2 yr old, doesn't really understand.

But I'm starting to understand.

A few more days and my sole time with Ana will end. I can't say we conquered the island together or partied every day. I had a lot of other stuff I had to do. A homemaker's to-do list can get pretty long. But there were a lot of really good times we had, just her and I.

Maybe she didn't get it, but we sat on the North Shore together watching the BIGGEST surf while everyone was at work. The beach wasn't crowded and there were no annoying surf contests going on. It was a perfect beach day.

I enjoyed watching bits of movies together while we ate lunch. Shopping for food was something we worked on together. She was getting really good at helping me put the food on the conveyor belt. I'll miss tickling her in the morning. She loved playing hide-and-seek with me (even though she's terrible at that game; she always hid right in front of me!). She was also SO adorable waking up from her nap; she'd come out of her room dizzy with her eyes at half mast. She's always bump into something. She's adorable.

People always tell me that I need to enjoy this time when my kids are little. "They grow up so fast," is the common line. But however common it is, it seems to always be said with a tear in the eye. Well, now I'm starting to get it, a little.

It'll be hectic and fun to have all my girls together again. We'll do it up for the next 10 weeks until school starts up again. I hope to have an absolute blast with them!

And then, it's off to work for me. I don't know how I'll get the girls out early enough so that I can reach a substitute teaching job in time, but God will help.

No more after noon workouts. No more play dates. Gee, I'll probably have to discontinue my zoo pass! I don't know how I'll handle doing my homemaking duties after a day with students. My wife will be working a little less next year than this year, so that'll help. I don't even know how I'll blog!!

Anyway, life is about to make some really drastic changes. I feel like I'm about to go down a really fast water slide with a plunge at the end... here we go!