Skiving

Today was the last day of school for everyone but Owen.  Finally.  Nine long, fun, difficult, beautiful months studying in Scotland have come and gone. Preston was called an S2 here, and will be a Freshman (9th grader) at Mueller Park Jr. High.  Calvin, finished his P7 year and would be going into S1, but returns to Bountiful as a 6th grader. Simon, now a P5 going into P6, will return to enter 4th grade.  Annie Joy, finished her P3 year and will be a 2nd grader (thanks to a Chinese tutor she will head back into the Chinese immersion program at Muir.)  Growin Owen passed nursery school with flying colors and will be starting kindergarten.  I graduated from Edinburgh New Town Cookery School, and Ryan is working on his Phd. Time has flown, and crawled, by.  School here in Scotland has taught us many things, not the least of which is that change is hard.   Leaving Bountiful was hard. Coming to Edinburgh was hard.  Adjusting to the culture here: hard.  Eating haggis: not hard, especially when it is deep fried, rolled in coconut and served with a mango salsa, the way it has been prepared for centuries.  Leaving Scotland will be hard.  The clock ticks on. Whilst everyone was still in school, I could mentally put off the impending change of returning home.  But no longer.  School is over, the count down to return is getting shorter, and I will miss 85 Colinton Road more than I care to contemplate.  As for skiving?  It means ditching or playing hookey, which is what Preston did today.

This is where Preston went to school this year: Boroughmuir Secondary School... but not today, because he was skiving.