LAST DAY OF SUMMER

It may not be the official last day of summer according to the solstice calendar, but since school starts tomorrow at Willow Creek Academy, it may as well be.

Dane returns, entering 1st grade with Ms. Lurie, whose specialty is reading (could she be any nearer and dearer to my heart then?), and AUBREY STARTS KINDERGARTEN!

Come 7:45 AM we'll ride our bikes in, drop Dane off at Ms. Lurie's, and then drop Aubrey off at Ms. Perez's. I'm incredibly excited for each kid -- and, yes, for myself (the time! the freedom!) -- but I have to admit my stomach is really upset today. Could this be psychosomatic? I like to think I'm tougher than that, but I'm probably not.

Aubrey has been such a great little partner over the past year, at my side for a lot of long, sweet days. And riding my bike with the trail-a-bike still attached after I've dropped her off (she's still not very interested in learning to ride her own two wheels) will probably feel weird.

As for the two of them, it's also been a great summer spent watching them grow and pal around. Things like that change a little during the school year, although hopefully not too much.

After dropping them off tomorrow, my friend Sharon is letting me sit in on her Bikram Yoga class. We'll see if 90 minutes of 105 degree heat and 40% humidity helps me keep things in perspective.

My plan for the school year will include a nice balance of part-time work at the rec center, lots of writing, volunteering in the classrooms, riding my bike for transportation, and maybe taking a fitness class a couple times a week.

Mick's plan is to keep charging through school, drumming up the kinds of patients and cases he needs to graduate (a lot of his class is frustrated and challenged by this these days).

I'll post FIRST DAY pix when I see Mick again and can download them onto his computer. He has clinic until 9 Thursday night; I leave for Tahoe the next morning for a couple days to attend my cousin Dani's wedding.