Those three words have meant so many different things in my lifetime, to you too I am sure.

New school supplies as a child.
New clothes as a teen.
New roommate as a college student.

Then there was the grey area of life, starting out as an adult with a full time job where it meant no variation in my life at all. Those three words just made me feel a little melancholy because there was no new anything in the Fall.

Then came motherhood, and back to school took on a life of its own. My years became marked by the beginning of the school year, the hustle and bustle of meeting teachers and setting up activities and sports. The very things that created a harried existence throughout the school year and eventually led everyone to celebrate the last day of school and the start of summer. Only to have the lazy, boredom filled days pile up on top of one another until we couldn't wait for that first day of school and the order it gave to our lives.

Repeat, twelve years in a row.

And now, my oldest is a senior in High School. I sent him off on his last first day, with the overwhelming sense of how fast it had all gone. This isn't a news flash to any parent, we all get so caught up in the day to day, the season to season, the year to year, that the end of it truly does sneak up. I was not, am not, prepared for it.

He got new school supplies.
He got new clothes.
And I got melancholy over the fact that it is all going to change.

Life has a beautiful synthesis to it, even when you aren't paying attention.