The next chapter

What a day, a day of many mixed emotions and I'm sure that it's just a taste of the emotions that I'm going to feel tomorrow.

This afternoon Aj had a party with six of her friends that we've known since she was a baby. Aj (and I) has had some fantastic experiences, fun days out and made many happy memories with these friends. But the reality of this friendship group is that we all love in different areas of the county, they are going to different schools and the kiddies will now be working towards a new exciting friendship group. No doubt one or two of the parents will endeavour to arrange gatherings and I'm sure that they'll all love seeing each other again.

But for now, I want to take the time to say Thank you, thank you to the Mum's (and Dad's) of our mini teenagers for 4 fabulous years of friendship, laughter and memory making - it really has been a blast!

Then we move onto our eldest, DM, today, she has been earning her spending money for the school residential she goes on tomorrow. Tomorrow, DM goes away for 5 days/4 nights with most of her class friends to a fantastic facility that will provide her with the most amazing challenges. So, tonight, - I know, I know, very unlike me to leave it to the last minute ;) - DM and I have packed her suitcase ready for the residential. She doesn't know it, but I slipped in some notes to let her know we love her. I've sent her off with a journal so that she write us notes when she feels the need to talk to us (she's not allowed to take phones or call us). I've told her how much we'll look forward to reading it with her when she gets back.

I remember when she went away last year for two nights, I missed just being able to say "are you ok?". This will be a challenging time for us both, but for very different reasons.

So tomorrow, as I take Aj, our baby baby, to school for her first (half) day at school with excitement in the air, I'll also be the parent that is taking her big baby to school for her first 5 day residential - wish me luck :/