Kim writes at Rubber Chicken Madness, and I knew the name of her blog long before I had the opportunity to meet the amazing woman behind it and looong before I found out that she lives close by, in Kansas City. Isn’t it funny how that works sometimes?

Kim is a single mom of boys, and you can read about her story here. You should get to know her, but in a nutshell, she’s a single, working mom of boys, striving to find the perfection in her rubber chicken madness (<—–the story behind her blog name is really cute. We’ll wait while you go read it.)

Thank you so much for being here with us, Kim, as most of us prepare for the first days of school (SIGH).

Every year, I promise myself I won’t do it.

Every year, I fail.

In less than two weeks, I’ll be standing in the hallway at school, watching the kiddos walk in on the first day of this new school year. New backpacks, first day of school shirts, new shoes and bright smiles.

There are invariably some tears down in Kindergarten, but we hand the sad mommies a Kleenex and, before long, they’re okay again. There are likely some tears of joy in other areas as mommies get their days back to themselves.

I will stand outside the doors to my library watching this sweet parade of freshly scrubbed faces.

There will be shy waves and exuberant hugs, and quick chats about books read over the summer.

I hope there will also be celebrations of, “Guess what? I read a book all by myself this summer!”

And I will have to choke back tears.

Each little face.

Each little smile.

Each little person is so full of amazing potential that my heart gets overwhelmed.

We are on the cusp of a brand new learning year.

We are ready to tackle reading and writing and math.

We are ready to log on and create.

And to experiment.

And explore.

Make new friends.

Welcome back the old.

Two weeks before this moment, I will have had to pry myself out of my house to return to work. I will have been resistant because I like being home with my own kids. I will have struggled with getting out of the house and to school by 7:45.  I will have taken deep breaths and begun to try to tackle the impossibly long to do list.

But not one tiny bit of that will matter.

The dawning of a new year will eclipse all the resistance and I will be filled with such anticipation of what we can accomplish as learners this year.

Each child.

Learning each day.

Growing into a unique person full of ideas of their own.

And the great expectations of the year about to unfold will overwhelm me with possibilities.

A tear will slip out.

And a Kindergarten mommy will smile and hand me a Kleenex.

Photo Credit: Mark McQuade

Feel free to stalk Kim on her blog, Facebook, and Twitter.