The Final Countdown

Yes, it's finally happening. I'm finally starting to count the days.

'5 more days', I uttered to our cat (as I put him downstairs so that he doesn't escape out the door, with all the mornings comings and goings). 5 more babysitting days, where he will be banished downstairs away from the kids. He loves kids, but he 'teaches' them not to bug him by lightly biting them. Not enough to hurt. So the kids keep bugging. It's one small aggravation that I can alleviate, by keeping him downstairs and out of harms way. So I do.

'5 more days', I think to myself ... as the inane banter of my regular summer crowd is embedded into my memory.The tattling, the hair pulling, the endless toys, the running back and forth in the house. 5 more babysitting days to deal with the younger set of personalities. The diapers, the naps and making lunch. I won't have to make lunch on a daily basis! Yay!!

'7 more days' of life as we know it. Later bedtimes (though we are weaning ourselves to go to sleep earlier this week), a relaxed schedule, the ease of no homework or studying. Our go-with-the-flow pace will soon be but a memory, as our school hours must be heeded and deadlines will soon be upon us.

'1 week' to catch up on all that I want to finish before I start my new life where my days and evenings will be dictated by: the amount of hours that I'm required to deal with kids, school, book keeping, dancing, errand running and household chores. Just keeping on top of the day to day running of my new life will require (I think) an empty slate, at the onset.

'4 more days' until the weekend. 4 days of kids, 4 days to catch up on my book keeping, 4 evenings that are committed to things other than kids and book keeping. 4 short days to squeeze in as much as I possibly can (while still adhering to the new 'early to bed' rule), so that we can make the most out of the 'last weekend' of our old life.

'1 more weekend' to savor before my new way of life crashes into our lives. The past few weekends have been consumed with 'catching up'. I've caught up on one project but my book keeping has suffered. So as much as I know that I will have to devote a great deal of the upcoming weekend to that work ... I want to make time for Kurt and I to just hang out.

'10 weeks' until the upcoming dance showcase. 10 weeks of one extra night of dancing and doubling up some of my private dance lessons. 10 weeks to learn and hone 2 new routines that I haven't even started yet and 'perfect' the routine that we have been working on. 10 weeks to figure out the minute details such as costumes and all the 'girl stuff' that goes into preparing for the big day. 10 weeks to squeeze this into my new world that revolves around school and work instead of kids. 10 weeks of that 'one extra pressure' that I don't really need (but I really do want) right now.

I am excited about what is in my horizon. As I count down the days to the end of 'life as I know it', I'm eagerly anticipating what is in store.

New goals, changing responsibilities, different schedules and a revised way of life. I'm counting the days ....