6,200 Days of Showing Up
It's the last week of school for my 7th grader and my 11th grader. It's been a year.
It really has. Not all that different from most years, because quite frankly, most years end with all of us feeling like, "It's been a year." But this year feels different. Maybe it's because even my 11th-grade son recently said, "Wow, this year went by fast." Or maybe it's because he's entering his final year of high school in August already. Whatever it is, this ending feels different.
I find myself really wanting to celebrate them. To truly honor the completion of this school year and everything they went through to get here. I can almost hear that familiar voice in my head saying, "You baby them," or, "Oh my God, why do they deserve to celebrate the end of 7th or 11th grade? That's just a normal thing all kids do. You're so soft!"
Side note: I no longer care about being called soft or a tree hugger. I'm all good with that.
Life is a lot. And if I'm feeling it, then I want to acknowledge that for my kids, too. For all kids, actually. I talk a lot about celebrating and honoring milestones, big and small, and taking time to recognize the transitions we move through. Life is moving way too fast, and this is one small way to slow it down.
You know what else I'm honoring right now? In all the years my children have been in school, about 13 years total, since my son started preschool when he was three, I haven't been absent once. Nor have I called in sick. Not one day.
I actually can't believe it.
That realization dawned on me this morning when my daughter wasn't feeling well and I shifted my day to accommodate. Not one day have I called in sick to my mom job. For 13 years, I've been the one adjusting when a kid was sick, needed to come home early, forgot something important, or needed an extra layer of support. That's just been my reality.
This is kind of amazing.
I think I get extra credit for this: not calling in sick and also being the default parent. I'm not sure if what I'm saying makes sense, but it seems like double duty equals double reward. If you're a default parent, I know you get it.
So maybe honoring my kids is also a way of honoring myself today.
And by my rough estimations, that's about 2,500 days of packing lunches, getting kids off to school, and getting them home again. But beyond that, it's about 6,200 days of simply not calling in sick from being a parent.
Six thousand two hundred days.
No sick days. No calling out. No one covering my shift. Just showing up, day after day after day.
Now THAT feels like an accomplishment and something worth celebrating.
So today, I am celebrating us all! Kids and parents, we do a lot! And a lot of it doesn't even make sense half the time (the only things I remember from grade school right now are how to spell Mississippi and the name of my 6th grade PE teacher because I kind of had a crush on him), but we do it anyway, and man, do we do it well!
So here's your reminder to celebrate the ending of this school year - even if it isn't a graduation. The years completed count. The growth counts. The ordinary days count. It all counts.
If you're moving through the end of a school year, celebrating a milestone, or simply noticing how much you've been carrying lately, I recently shared a short video about honoring the ways we show up for the people we love.
It's a gentle reminder that the ordinary days count too, and that your effort deserves acknowledgment, even when no one else sees it.
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