When my kids were little, I always got schmaltzy just before school started. Summers on the farm were busy, yet the freedom we had without the boundaries of school commitments was liberating. We had waited so long (seven years) for a family, come summer’s end I never wanted to shoo my little ones out the door with those backpacks seemingly bigger than their little shoulders could carry.
Alas, they grow up and out they go, through a much wider door than our local school.
Graduating in 2007, as a high school present to our eldest, we flew him off to Los Angeles for a week to check out a sound engineering school there. Just before boarding the plane, he turned back, smiling as he put two fingers to his forehead in a salute-wave goodbye. Immediate tears sprung up behind my eyes, spilling over their banks. He was ecstatic, his dream on the verge of coming true, which helped ease the separation anxiety. Somewhat.
He returned from his journey pumped about the school, completely satisfied that’s what he wanted to do, which is why we had sent him — to get a feel for the place, talk to people and figure out if this is where his life’s journey would take him. Setting the ball in motion, we found an apartment close to the trade school, one they had suggested, and later that summer, he drove solo cross country. The young are fearless.
He hit Colorado and the high altitude. His car took a nosedive, overheating. We were in the barn milking, and he called us wondering what he could do. (They are adults but still need our help.)
We were in Leopolis; he was in Colorado. With no other recourse, his dad suggested he call for a state trooper. He did. This precious officer helped push our son’s car to a nearby gas station where he let his car cool down and then replenished his antifreeze. The perfect solution.
Years later, when he was established in a job, I flew out with friends for a six-day visit. From Leopolis to Los Angeles — talk about culture shock. Whew. Suffice to say I was happy when it was time to come home to the farm.
We saw our second one off to Lakeland University near Sheboygan, which was much more doable, but still, the absence of another vibrant member of our family struck like a knife to my mama’s heart.
That year 2009 was tumultuous, a year of emotional ups and downs. Sadly, my mom passed away in January with my dad following her in April. In June of that same year, in the midst of a grieving loss, our son won his high school team’s state baseball championship. Our niece, while listening at work, had texted me, “I don’t know ‘bout you people over there but I’m about fixin’ to pace a hole in the floor!” It was nail-biting.
We were on a shifting rollercoaster, steamrolling right into fall when we drove our middle one to college.
It doesn’t get any easier.
Needing a diversion, my daughter and I went to Shawano, got a couple gallons of a beautiful contemporary (at that time) lime-green paint. Tearing her room apart, we painted the walls; complete with new sheets, comforter, throw pillows and fresh curtains. It was a project that took our minds off the hole in our hearts.
For a few years, we had one child left at home. It was full of activity as she, like our middle one, was involved in sports and, in addition, played trumpet with her high school band, which involved playing taps at veterans’ funerals, summer parades and concerts, etc.
Too soon, it was our time to ship yet another, and the final one, off to college. Choosing University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, unfortunately she felt like a round peg in a square hole. Just did not fit in, which made it also hard on us. We asked if she’d like to transfer out or just simply drop out. She chose neither, instead choosing to work through it, completing her freshman year there. Transferring credits the following fall, she enrolled at UW-Green Bay to finish out college. There, she had fallen in love with the campus, making lifelong friends.
This back-to-school season as the sun goes to bed earlier and earlier and sleeps in later unsettles me with a nostalgia that still, these many years later, bring to mind the poignancy of sending my kids off to school, be it 4K or college.
Would you join me in prayer for all the precious children returning to the classrooms?
Father God, keep these little ones in your tender care as they return to school. Protect their hearts and minds to hold your truths tight, Jesus — to understand they were created in your image and likeness. Remind them to ask the Holy Spirit for wisdom to discern right from wrong, truth from lies. Protect them from all intended harm. Crush in advance any evil plot designed to hurt them. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
(“Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6)
Kay Reminger was born and raised on a dairy farm, and she married her high school sweetheart, who happened to farm for a living in Leopolis. Writing for quite a few years, she remains focused on the blessings of living the ups and downs of rural life from a farm wife’s perspective.
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