The Young and the Restless

First Day

We blinked and summer was over. It was a good one, as summers always are. Jayden started 8th grade, his last year in middle school. 

Maddox is in 4th grade and Ryder is in 2nd. It's all going by way too fast.

Kylie started school a few weeks after the boys, but she spent one of those weeks doing training for her new job. We were all collectively excited for her to start her first job. Her $30/month allowance just wasn't cutting it and it's important for her to learn money management before she's on her own. She applied to a few places but nothing was working out. Her friend was able to get her an interview for a customer service job at a pest control company. Jason was sure to prep her well for her interview, interviewing is sort of his thing. She was over prepared, but that is always better than under prepared. She got the job and would come home with funny stories every day after training. Like the guy who offered her a bite of his sandwich. And a sip of his aloe water. There was also the poor wonky eye guy whose right eye would start wandering to the side whenever he talked to her. And the sweet old Jamaican man that greeted her every day with a big smile and friendly greeting. And there was the time that she farted, but she said it was a cute one so she wasn't mad about it. She just kept a straight face on the outside while on the inside her mind was going OH.MY.GOSH.I.JUST.FARTED.AT.WORK! She also was excited to tell us about "this thing that they call a bonus". She seriously kept us laughing with her stories every day. It's not the most exciting job, but she's doing well at it. Not only did she start her first job, but she also got her driver's license! Let me just tell you, nothing is more scary than sending your child out on the road by themselves for the first time. I was tracking her phone so hard. The first day she got her license she drove to work and when it was time to leave there was a huge monsoon storm. A policewoman was directing traffic around a fallen tree and Kylie was so confused by her gestures that she ended up just going straight towards the cop. As you can imagine, that did not go well. She got a pretty good talking to, but once she realized it was her first day on the road she lightened up and used it as a teaching moment instead. She hasn't had any problems since and there definitely are perks to having her drive. No more rock, paper, scissors at 11:30 pm on the weekends to decide who has to pick her up. 

The first day of school finally came for her. Not only did she start her first job, get her license, start school as an upperclassman and make the dance team, but she also started the cosmetology program. It's such an awesome opportunity to be able to enroll in the program her junior and senior year and graduate with her license. It will be so nice for her to be able to use this skill to put herself through school, and the best part is that instead of the usual $20,000 beauty school tuition we only have to pay $350 in supply fees. She has definitely grown up in a matter of months and has entered the adult world. It all hit her pretty hard that first day. She thought she would be able to come home and eat before she went to hair school, but her schedule got switched due to dance so she had to pick up another period. Her history class wasn't offered as a zero hour and she was told she would have to go to summer school. Dance tryouts were on her first day of training so she had to miss that and there was a lot of misunderstandings and emails back and forth about when she could do a make up tryout. Her 4th period class ends at 11:47 and she needs to be in her seat at hair school by 12:00 and it is 17 minutes away, and she can't ever be late. The class is 4 hours long with one break in between and she didn't bring any snacks or have any money. At this point the only thing she had all day was a smoothie. She gets home at 4:15 and has to eat really fast in order to leave by 4:35 to get to work. She doesn't get home from work until 8:20 then has to start homework. It was a lot and after coming home from work that first day she had an anxiety attack to the point that she couldn't breathe, it was scary. I don't blame her, it's a lot of pressure. She wanted to quit her job and quit the hair program and maybe even quit dance. It was hard to know how to handle the situation and especially hard to see her like that. Part of me wanted to let her quite everything and go back to her comfort zone, but I know that growth doesn't come by giving up. This was a good dose of real adulthood and if she can learn how to balance everything that is thrown at her while she's young, then she will be so much more prepared to face it when she's on her own. We met with the counselor and got her enrolled in an on-line class at school for zero hour for history. We talked to her 4th period seminary teacher and got permission for her to leave class 10 minutes early every day. We talked to the school and got permission for her to move her car to the seminary building after 3rd period. We got the dance thing figured out and after enrolling in a general dance class they were able to observe her and let her move up to the Synergy dance team after the first week of school. We made sure to pack her a big lunch and plenty of snacks. I started making dinner at 3:15 every day so that it can be ready by the time she comes home at 4:15. We talked to her work and were able to get her schedule reduced to 3 days a week instead of 5. And she was finally able to breathe. It is still a lot on her plate, but I am so proud of the way she has handled it and the way she has pushed through and not given up. She is so glad she didn't end up dropping out of the hair program. She absolutely loves it and has made some great friends already. They're only a month and a half into the program and already learning how to do color treatments! I can't wait for her to be able to do my hair! She did give me a proper blow out  and I must say I was impressed!