It’s time to head back to school. My children are still young enough that they’ve been waiting for this moment for over a month, ready to see their classmates and teachers again. My oldest is heading to 1^st grade, so her back to school list is more inclusive than my youngest daughter. Little man, bless his heart, is still a year away from pre-school, and not too happy about it. He’ll love his one on one time with daddy, but right now he sees his sisters loading up with Minnie Mouse backpacks, colorful markers, folders, and other mysterious and exciting goodies. He feels left out.
 

It’s fun watching the girls as they prepare to return to class. My youngest is in her 2^nd and last year of pre-school, so she has a couple more weeks of waiting than her sister does. She’ll be watching her sister put on new school clothes, load up her backpack, and carry in a lunch. She’ll feel left out too.

I imagine when my big 1^st grader heads to class this week, she’ll feel pretty important. She’ll get to wave good-bye to her family and wave hello to her friends. She’ll be wearing that oldest child hat all week, and she’ll be feeling the weight of it: no morning cartoons, no lunchtime picnics, no afternoons at the park. She’ll return home and have a lot of stories to share about her day, but probably won’t be able to speak over her little sister and baby brother as they talk about their own. I expect she’ll feel left out too.

It’s funny how as we progress through life, we all feel left out at some point or the other. Our mothers would tell us the grass is always greener on the other side, and isn’t that the truth! When you’re a kid, you wish for the freedom of adults. When you’re an adult, you wish for the simplicity of childhood. Yesterday and tomorrow can often feel so much bigger and so much more important than today. That’s what makes sticking to our plans and our goals so tough. We’re in love with the promise of tomorrow, the other side of the fence, or we’re plagued be the fears and the doubts of yesterday, when we couldn’t reach our goal, or when we didn’t make good decisions.

That’s why we have to focus on our own back to school list. Trying to build up that first $1000 emergency fund? That’s a great goal, and a worthy one…don’t shortchange it by comparing it to somebody who is halfway to building their retirement nest egg. You’ll get there. Are you finally building up your credit after a decade of not so great financial moves? That’s awesome and worth celebrating, even if you can’t qualify for that low rate loan on that brand new car yet. You’ll get there. And when my two youngest children are watching their big sister wave good-bye and wondering when they’ll get to go to the big school and spend all day with their friends, I’m going to let them know that same thing. Smile, remember what you get to do all day, and stop worrying. You’ll get there. And then I’ll take them to the park. I’m Claire, the Afena blog mom. Thanks for reading.