The Last Week of Summer (What It Actually Involves)

Everyone else sees the last week of summer as an ending. I see it as a beginning.

Not a romantic beginning — a logistical one. It's the start of the back-to-school sprint, the resumption of the weekly routine, the first week of school pick-ups and after-school activities and the adjusted dinner schedule that school terms require. It is not nothing. It is, in fact, quite a lot.

The things the last week of summer contains, from where I stand:

The final inventory of what was used, lost, outgrown, or broken over six weeks. The restocking of what needs restocking. The preparation of Monday morning — which is not just the physical preparation but the mental preparation, the priming of everyone in the household for the changed rhythm they're about to resume. The quiet emotional labour of making a transition feel safe for children, who sense the shift even when nothing is said.

And underneath all of this: the particular loneliness of being the one who sees the week before the week.

I've been talking to him about this. Not managing it — talking about it. Saying: this is what this week looks like from where I'm standing. What do you see from where you're standing?

He saw some of it. Less than I see, but more than he did last year.

That's the direction of travel.