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Wednesday, September 4, 2019

First day of school

Yesterday was the first day of school hereabouts. (Likely the first day of Katie's fourth/last year of university.  Undergrad, anyway.  ;) )  Photo after photo after photo of adorable kids, dressed to the nines (and when did those chalkboard signs get to be a thing??);  comment after comment exclaiming how much they'd grown, etc. Some parents relieved to have the kids FINALLY out of the house after an entire summer, some moaning that they did NOT want the summer to end, did NOT want to send their kids back to school, they LIKED having their kids with them ALL THE TIME.

I "liked" them all (well, most of them ;) ) but as the day went on I was feeling more & more fatigued by the onslaught.

One of my CNBC friends posted a funny photo of an exhausted-looking guy and the caption "8736th day of work" (lol). Which gave me an idea. ;)

I took my e-reader (book:  "American Carnage" by Tim Alberta) and afternoon cup of tea out onto the balcony, did a bit of "days since" calculating via Google, and came up with this photo and caption, which I posted on Facebook & Instagram:

First day of school for some... day 1,869 of retirement for me. 😁😉😂
Enjoying the mild (albeit overcast) weather on the balcony while it lasts... 🙄
I got a lot of "likes."  No comments. ;)  I imagine a few people reading my post probably thought to themselves, "Must be nice!"  Just as I, looking at the photos of their lovely children, thought about what it must be like to have such a beautiful family, to be able to watch their kids grow up and take photos of them...

Someday, they too will be retired and sitting on their balcony/patio/deck... their children may have grown up and left home -- but most of them will be back to visit at least once in a while, and maybe even bring grandchildren with them.

That's something I will never have.

For now, let's just call it a draw & both be thankful for what we do have, shall we?
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10 comments:

  1. areyoukiddingmeWednesday, September 04, 2019 12:53:00 PM

    Really? No one asked what you were reading? What kind of friends do you have?! :D

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    1. loribethWednesday, September 04, 2019 2:54:00 PM

      Bahahaha!!! I know, right??! I was kind of expecting it, but no takers (yet?)! (Maybe they saw the word "Trump" in there & that scared them off, lol!)

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    2. MaliSunday, September 08, 2019 11:14:00 PM

      I will confess that I had a look at the book title!

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  2. CharlotteWednesday, September 04, 2019 1:22:00 PM

    Your cup of coffee looks delicious!!! Sipping it on the balcony sounds so delightful and relaxing. Here it has decided to be over 90 degrees today and humid as all get out, so not very fun outside.
    And can I just say...I have kids and I still reaaalllly dislike the back to school posts and chalkboards and all of it. I don’t do fb, and that’s a huge reason why...social media is just not for me. I don’t relate to the curated pics and posts and status updates...just ugh.

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    1. loribethWednesday, September 04, 2019 2:57:00 PM

      Actually, it's tea. :) It's been 18-20C & overcast here the past few days... a little on the cool side, but I prefer that to the heat & humidity! It was too cool & rainy earlier in the summer -- we didn't even bother bringing the chairs up from the storage locker until after we got back from visiting my family in late July... and it doesn't seem like it will be long before we'll need to haul them back down there again! :(

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  3. BamberlambWednesday, September 04, 2019 4:24:00 PM

    What a fab post! Wondering what sort of tea you're drinking and what you're reading too ;-) I would have loved to have seen a message like that on social media. I aspire to retire (ha! See what I did there?)

    My (childless) cousin always posts something sarcastic this time of year about it being the day people take pictures of their front doors with kids stood in front of them, it always makes me smile. This year though the 'theme' seems to be people posting multiple pictures of their kids from their first day at nursery school, then their first day at infant school to their first day at senior school. I've reached my saturation limit of other folks offspring I'm afraid as the next onslaught won't be far away with Halloween, guy fawkes night then Christmas, so instead of spending much time on social media I've been doing gardening, enjoying being out in the open air and walking the dog. I'm grateful for everything I have and although I don't begrudge anyone their families, sometimes the whole bombardment of it gets too much and samey and like a bit of an onslaught, so away I step!

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    1. loribethWednesday, September 04, 2019 6:14:00 PM

      I agree, Bamberlamb! -- I can deal with a few here & there, but I've been seeing back to school posts (from friends in the States) since the first week of August = an entire month's worth already!! Yesterday was the big day hereabouts, so it was a lot!

      Tea was just plain old Tetley (black/orange pekoe). ;) Book was "American Carnage" by Tim Alberta -- about the Republican party in the age of Trump. It's actually pretty good & pretty readable, given the subject matter (lol), but it's almost 700 pages, which means it's a bit of a slow read!

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  4. dublinerinDeutschlandFriday, September 06, 2019 5:47:00 AM

    yeah I also am surprised no one asked what you are reading! Good idea for a post anyway! Tea and a good book is one of my favourite activities. Though I would usually have some chocolate with it!

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  5. MaliSunday, September 08, 2019 11:14:00 PM

    And yes, I totally approve of this post. Also, I feel free NOT to like these photos if they make me feel a twinge or roll my eyes depending on the commentary accompanying the photos) - though as many of my northern hemisphere friends have become friends through infertility and loss I don't have too many of these. I figure that they'll have plenty of "likes" and never miss mine.

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  6. JessTuesday, September 10, 2019 9:51:00 PM

    This is brilliant, how did I miss it on FB? I felt the same, it was overwhelming going through all the back to school posts, even for preschool! I tried to avoid it but my feed backlogged them anyway. I love yours even more! And would have asked what you are reading of I'd seen it. Stupid FB algorithms...

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