Yesterday we dropped our kids off at a new school for the first time. In June, I left a job I was at for five years and started a new one. We didn’t begin 2013 with these changes planned, but here we are.
Mood music:
Going to Akamai was a pretty easy move for me. I joined a team in which I’ve known the boss and several staffers for years. It was also a move that kept me in the security community. But I didn’t plan on a job change in January. Opportunities simply materialized.
The kids changing schools was a more difficult switch. The decision was hard for Erin and me to make, and we had the children’s emotional response to consider.
For a family that has typically resisted change, it’s quite an adventure.
The kids seemed OK as we left the schoolyard and they entered their new building. But you could tell they were also somewhat dazed, unsure of their surroundings and all those new classmates. Erin and I lingered. We wanted to get back to work, but we wanted to make sure they were all right. This weekend they had two parties with classmates from the old school, which I’m sure made this harder.
I keep telling them it’s going to be great, because they’ll have all their Haverhill friends and will make new friends from different towns on top of that. I told them about my going to a regional high school and being scared out of my wits. But while I was something of an outcast in school, I still managed to make close friends from different, diverse cities, and that expanded my horizons.
The kids weren’t particularly receptive to that. They’ll eventually see what I mean. But not today.
It’s a funny thing about life: All that’s familiar can shift in an instant. But I long ago accepted that change is the law of life. Resist it and drown in the wake.
Sooner or later, our boys will accept that, too.
“All that’s familiar can shift in an instant.” So true.