It was a wondrous morning on Monday, the day school started. Of their own volition, my youngest and her friend, who is living with us, with no prompting from me at all, packed their backpacks, laid out their clothes, made breakfast smoothies and put them in the fridge, made lunches and filled water bottles all the night before. They were in bed with lights out by 9:30 p.m., awakening at 6 a.m., showered, simultaneously put on their makeup while looking in the mirrored closet door, and got out of the house about 10 minutes early.

What an efficient, organized way to start off the school year! (Snort of derision.)

I snort because although they really did all that stuff, I just wonder how long it will last. These first days/weeks of school maybe, then the darkness will settle in and the reality of summer being over will bowl them over and they’ll be rushing around in the mornings trying to get out the door on time. Soon they’ll be dragging.

They still have a bit of summer to squeeze in with Labor Day weekend and another anime convention to attend. But I think next Tuesday, when the alarm goes off for school, their reality will come crashing in – “Are we still doing this?” They have so many late nights (early mornings?) getting to bed as dad leaves for work at 4 a.m. to slough off; so many days sleeping in until dad gets off work at 1:30 p.m. to recalibrate. I expect much less cooperation as the school year wears on.

One of the elementary schools in our area posted this on their reader board: “Resistance is futile. You will be educated.” It made me laugh out loud and I showed it to my youngest, who was not amused.

Not being a child who appreciates her education until it’s passed (she was in tears after eighth grade, realizing she took it for granted), the first day of school is never met with joy. Although by now I’m not sure if it’s the learning part she objects to (when she was in sixth grade she told me she hates information) or the getting up early part. She can argue with me all she wants about whether 7:35 a.m. is an appropriate time for high school students to start school, but I’m not in charge. So resistance really is futile.

I have mixed feelings, as this is my baby girl’s senior year. It’s not so much because they are growing up as much as making sure I’m not left without a purpose for my own life when they do finally leave. At least I think they’ll leave; that’s what we strive for, after all. We try to raise them to be productive members of society then all we can do is sit back and see how we’ve done.

Last school year when my oldest had moved out and it was just my youngest, my husband and me living in the house, we had been getting used to the idea of being empty nesters. It was a nice way to ease into that new phase of our lives. Now all our lives have been turned upside down when everyone and then some moved home; three to five in a matter of weeks.

But in just a few short months, they’ll probably be gone again to enter a new phases of their lives. Hopefully, not all at once so my husband and I can get used to the idea again.

Resistance is futile; they will be educated and they will grow up.