Weekly Doses of Pop-up Psych

Hello, Meet My Ugly Cry Face!

How I’m Dealing with My Kids Growing Up

 

It’s time for Back-to-School and I’m feeling all the feels because my twin sons are starting their senior year of high school. My boys are my only children, so every milestone as a parent is always the first, last, and only experience, as well as big since there are two going through it at once. This year, the emotions are completely different than all the previous years.

 

Unlike previous years, I feel very relaxed. Normally before the September S**t Show, I enjoy the calm before the storm of schedules, alarm clocks, assignments, carpools, activities, orientations, and my constant fear of being “a day late and a dollar short” because I missed something in the sea of incoming information.

 

Like chopping up raw onions in public

 

My happy hysterics bring on my Ugly Cry Face (UCF). For better or worse, I’m a proud and happy crier. I get teary very easily when I’m happy, but not as much when I’m sad or angry. I used to feel embarrassed about it, but at this point in my life, it is what it is. I do get my share of confused looks, like “are you okay?”, since I cry those happy tears for other people’s kids too.

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The first time I heard about the UCF was by Kim Kardashian’s sisters’ description of her face when she cried. I felt very seen when I heard the term, since I rock my own UCF.​

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It’s 18 years old and 12th grade for a reason

    

In senior year, students’ wings begin to outgrow their parents’/guardians’ nests and high school’s birdcage. I live in a town that is centered around an awesome school district with incredible and memorable senior send-off traditions by rolling out the red carpet towards graduation in September, starting with the Senior Breakfast on the second day of school.

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Although I feel relaxed because I am not spending my time going sneaker shopping (we knocked that out early), taking them for haircuts (they drove themselves), clothes shopping (they claimed to not need anything), or hunting down all the right school supplies (they take their own lists to Staples and do it themselves), I am ready to jump back into the chaotic waters of the Back-to-School pond for one last time. As their mom, they are ready, so I’m right there with them. They’re not supposed to be with us forever.  It’s time to get them ready to fly.

 

Bring on the tissues and ditch the mascara

 

My UCF introduced itself when I registered my sons for kindergarten.  The kind woman going over the paperwork with me said, “don’t worry, they are still so young and will always be your babies”, as she handed me a fistful of tissues. Through my light sobs, I said, “you don’t understand, this is why I moved here two years before they were born; for this moment and the next 13 years.”  I was right, because the school district has been so amazing that I burst into tears every time I walked into their elementary school during their kindergarten year.