It's back to school in the Napa Valley

I know a new school year has started when I try to find parking near the coffee shop where I stop in every morning in St. Helena to get my morning jolt.  It’s only confirmed when I walk in and the line is 5-7 people deep.  I have enjoyed the lazy, or at least slower days of summer which I gauge by the way locals and tourists would wander in or maybe not at all in the early mornings.  On the other hand, there’s something charming and sweet about seeing all of the moms and dads come in with their kids to order coffees and hot chocolate at the start of the day, before the kids head to school.  I know that as the school year begins to settle in, the bustle will only increase, and the buzz of conversation will rise up around me as parents exchange anecdotes about their kids, or various parent groups meet to discuss upcoming events. 
 
For instance this morning, a mom behind me in line was telling her friend about her daughter’s attempt to take a driver’s test at the DMV.  She was all set to go, when the officer checked the car, and found the right blinker not working.  And that was the end of the test! Having seen three of my own through the experience, I could hear and feel the frustration of the mom, especially when her husband checked the car and found that the bulb for the blinker was loose and needed only to be pushed in.  Knowing the backup for driver’s tests at the DMV, I suspect the daughter has a few weeks to wait until she can try again.
 
I always enjoy seeing the tweens come in to the coffee shop on a school morning to order food and something to drink.  You just know they feel so grown up, doing this all by themselves, but they act so nonchalant and cool about it.  It’s sweet to see how the grownups all around them go with it, and treat them with the proper respect the kids think (and desperately hope) they deserve, thus keeping their self-esteem and confidence intact.
 
This is the first week of my empty nest and every day I get new reminders of the new normal.  Like when a dad tells me not to think about what’s really going on in the apartment that my 18-year-old is sharing with two other teenage college girls five hours away, because it will just make me crazy.  Or that I don’t need to call her to see when she’s coming home every night anymore, because she won’t be coming home at all.  And, seeing parents getting their kids off to school after a little stop at the Napa Valley Coffee Roasting Company in St. Helena at 7:45 in the morning, now realizing those days are gone forever.  And the VINE VIDEO I took as we left her last weekend … she’s waving goodbye, but more importantly a new hello to a new phase of her life. 
 
So parents of the Napa Valley, enjoy this new school year with your kids.  Despite the challenges you’re bound to face this year, these days won’t last forever and before you know it, you too will look back with some nostalgia to what may someday feel like simpler times.

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