Silence. The Kids Are Back in School.

Staples would have you believe "It's the most wonderful time of the year!" but I have mixed feelings.  After all of the together time of summer, most of it wonderful and some of it leaving me wishing for school to start, the silence in our home is deafening.  

The girls are gone, one to her freshman year at and the other to 7th grade at , leaving just me and our dog, Trudy, home.  I can't tell which of us is missing them more.

Each passing summer brings me closer to the day when both girls are off on their own, and I'm not ready to let them go.

Don't get me wrong—in a few days this malaise will pass and I'll be relishing my time alone, looking forward to hearing about their day at school when they get home.  But right now I'm a little, okay, more than a little, sad that our summer together is over.  

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Editor's note: See also:

• "Darien Students Back in School" (photos)

• (with a link to Darien elementary schools' lunch menu through September.)

• Darien Patch's Back to School Guide