Yesterday, finally, blissfully, Dane went back to school. In all reality, it is very soon after his last day of school (Dog Days of Summer). But this summer was different than most. This summer was the summer of Dave’s retirement and retirement = paperwork.

Paperwork and big decisions. Where will we go? What will we do? Will we have a job? What about health insurance? Dental? Insurance? School for the kids? Where will we live? Dave and I spent days working side-by-side filling out form after form. Retiring is never easy. Retiring from the Army is even less easy. Retiring from the Army while living in Germany? I don’t recommend it.

We had days filled with stress, with dark clouds hanging over our heads. Days with the sunshine breaking through, and a little family fun lightening the mood. And now, today, finally, Dave has a job. Not a job-job. An interim job. But a job that keeps us here in Germany, gives us base support (so no change in car registration, driver licenses, and so much more), and most important keeps Tess in the school she loves so much. Today the sun shone bright.

After school we loaded up into the car, drove down our little mountain, to beautiful Calw below. Armed with Dane’s dreaded yearly supply list we marched into the Müller, ready for anything.  Ready for battle. Every year this list has bested me. It is a full page long. It is specific, especially when it comes to notebooks. So many different notebooks!

I tried to make sense of The List beforehand. I studied it. I reviewed sizing, colors, margins (yay/nay/red/blue), lines, line height. I downloaded charts:

Honestly, I left the house more confused than any other year. What I didn’t realize, I had a secret weapon.

Tess tagged along. As it turns out to avoid a project on Aristotle that we are now doing in the midnight hours, I thought she’d gone to shop for snacks for school, or wild colors for her nails. The Müller has it all! After we parked the car, and my feet started to feel heavy, and then we entered a jam-packed store overflowing with impatient parents, despair sunk over me. And my secret weapon snatched the list out of my hand, marched over to The Notebooks, and stated:

“I got this.” And got this she did. She quickly, efficiently, like she was born to it, collect each item on the list. Done. My jaw hit the floor. My happiness bubbled over. We had done it! Dane’s whole back-to-school list was completed before the first week of school is even over. SCORE!

Last night was late, but I did hustle Dane outside for one quick back-to-school photo before the stars came out.  There was a stiff wind blowing, but with a little determination we got all the banner on the down swing. First day of school 2017 is officially on the books.

First day of school 2017

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