Helper Edition
Middle School. The mere thought of Julian being in middle school has overwhelmed me, beginning in May when I attended his promotion ceremony at the elementary school he and his siblings have attended since kindergarten. I thought of the bus ride where he would no longer be one of the "big kids." Now, as lowly 6th graders, he and his friends would possibly be the objects of teasing, the result of tween kids jockeying for position. He was nervous the night before school started. He had no trouble falling asleep, but was awake at 11:00 and never slept again. He was up and down; in and out of two different bedrooms, lying on the living room couch for a while. When I dragged myself into the living room in the morning, I found the throw blanket in a heap and a step stool pulled in front of the front door, positioned so he could look out the little windows across the top. He'd heard something unsettling. A child of few words by nature at times of transition, he rarely gi