Double R Farm (Amish Country Soaps & Sundries)

Today is the first day of school for local learners here in Sugarcreek. It’s hard to believe that summer is coming to an end, especially since it’s only been lately that the weather has finally warmed up. The nights are getting cooler and soon it will be autumn. I watch with a neighbor as the school bus pulls up to take our children off to school and we both smile. It’s been a long summer. It’s not that we won’t miss our children, surely we will, but it’s time for us to get much of the chores we’ve put aside done.

We briefly run down the list of things we have planned for the day before I head back across the street as memories of earlier years flood my mind. I am amazed at how quickly the years have flown by. Wasn’t it only yesterday they were born?

More memories float around in my head; the numerous feedings, diaper changes, teaching them to walk and listening as they learned to talk seem like only yesterday. Then there were the many first days of school when we'd spend weeks shopping for clothes, shoes, supplies, lunch boxes and backpacks. It seemed to take forever to get them ready as we  filled their backpacks with school supplies along with our hopes and dreams for them.

Now they pack their own backpack, throw it over their shoulder and are gone in the blink of an eye unaware that still safely tucked inside are the hopes and dreams of their father and I. Even though one is now a Senior in high school and the other is a sturdy 6th grader it's hard not to be reflective on the first day of school.