The past few nights have been late. Yesterday I had my final exam for my in-person Abnormal Psychology class. It took me most of the 3 1/2 class hours to finish it. This afternoon we left around 3PM for a track meet and returned home a little past 10PM. I stayed on the bleachers for most of it, but went back to the car once it had been sprinkling for a little while. These days I try to keep from becoming overly chilled.

My sentimental side wants to cherish the family outings and the high school years that are flying by. At the same time, my practical side says kids these days are doing way too much, which mostly has nothing to do with what makes up life in the real world. Homeschool parents can be viewed as sheltering the kids, but I tend to see the traditional school route a kind of sheltering too. Kids are kept away from reality.

We stopped by Sonic on the way home for supper. On the drive home, with sore legs after a longer and immobile day of sitting, I considered whether or not it would’ve been better for me to stay home and work on my paper this evening. Ultimately am glad I was there to share in the memory and to be able to talk about the kids’ races they’d ran. It’s true these are the little moments real lives are made of.