Today marks the first day of the school year. These two champs were up early, all ready and raring to go. Grace begins her first year of high school - Year 7. Nathan starts his first year of upper high school - Year 10. After breakfast, we piled into the car and headed to the train station so I could drop everyone off, with hubby choosing to catch the train into the office to accompany Grace on her maiden commute to school. At the station drop off, I watched three backpack-laden figures walk away toward the station entrance. And I was filled with an unexplained wistfulness. It was a moment that held both an ending and a beginning The turning of another page of childhood. The beginning of a new chapter.

I have a few special rituals I share with my babies.  Some of them have been set aside over the years as they change and grow.  This ritual, for lack of a better name, I will call school holiday Fridays.  During the school term, I aim to spend my Fridays off on doing things for myself, such as lunch dates with hubby, coffee catch ups with friends, reading, watching classic films or just lazing around. Sometimes household d chores, paperwork and errands creep in. But I try my best to keep those Fridays off sacred for myself.  During the school holidays though, when my babies are home, I try to do something with just the two of them when hubby is in a work meeting or at the office.  I can't remember exactly how this ritual started, but it would usually always start with stopping by Asian bakery Breadtop (probably because hubby is not a fan of bread but we three love any kind of bread). We enjoyed taking our time to choose an item or two from the display of Asian b...