Old

This morning, I felt really cute and young going in to work.  Moll and I did some back-to-school outlet shopping and I had splurged on an adorable and flattering new work outfit at Banana Republic.

After work, Jeff, Molly, and I headed to the high school for freshman orientation.

I have never known what old felt like before today.  Freshman orientation, as somebody's mom. 

I. Am. Old.

Molly is a sweetie.  Such a good kid.  I am so proud of her. Does she have to be starting high school so soon, though?

Jeff is old too, but he embraces it. He valiantly tries to be the embarrassing dad.  His favorite antic of the evening was to take the umbrella and rap loudly on the closed doors of Molly's future classes and call, "Hellooooo!" when her friends and random boys were around.  Her BFF's coughed up the laughs he was looking for, but she would just moan (with a half-smile) "Daaaaad! Stop!" He offered to walk around with her the first day of school, introducing himself to all of the teachers, and scoping out who he would like her to sit by. "If they're not paying attention, don't sit by them."  She rolled her eyes, "That would be, like, everybody."  "Well then you just sit right up by the teacher's desk."

I didn't feel very inspired to eat a small and healthy meal after all that, especially since I tweaked a back muscle getting in the car, fallout from our 5 hour bike ride yesterday.  We went to Tully's and I ordered comfort food.  At least I didn't order an alcoholic beverage. It would've felt too much like drowning my sorrows. 

Anna Banana is in Ohio visiting her grandparents, so I don't even have the benefit of having my oldness offset by the presence of a bouncy 7 year old to reassure me that I can't be that old - I still have an elementary schooler.  When I talked to her tonight, she acted very grown-up.  She told me of her adventures with Grandma Vicky, which included a trip to the library.  (Smart Grandma - knowing that a stack of books will buy her some down time!) Anna told me which books she checked out, along with 3 American Girl magazines.  "NOT catalogs, Mama - real magazines! Since I can't seem to manage to get my hands on any in NEW YORK!"

This was a reference to her sister's stinginess with sharing her American Girl magazines.  I am pretty sure that after the first day of high school, Molly might be perfectly willing to let the remainder of the subscription go straight to Anna.