Complaint: Transitions Suck!

This summer marks a major transition with my kids. They've just hit that point where peers are more important to them than parents, and where play is more important than anything else.

This is overall an excellent thing; it's developmentally appropriate, and it's healthy.

But if you've stayed home with your kids for a chunk of time, to suddenly feel irrelevant is a bit of a buzz kill. Especially when you deliberately said no to job opportunities so you could be home all summer for your kids, when they, in fact, are never home.

I'm honestly really happy that my children are developing more depth in their friendships, as well as more independence. I want that for them.

I just have to get used to it first.

Today I found myself a little broken up over the fact that the kids stayed for supper at their friends' house. (They'd been there all day.) I know, it sounds like nothing. I should be glad!

And for them, I am.

But I guess I feel a little bit lost at the moment. I spent most of the day wandering around like a lost sheep, feeling a bit distraught, to tell the truth. Transitions aren't just hard for kids.

I've gotten so used to being needed. It's almost a like a detox, what I'm going through. Lovely.

And let's not discount those raging, ever-changing, deranging hormones of mid-life. I'm sure they're not exactly helping the situation any.

Damn you, estrogen! And your little dog, too!