my baby's growing up...

...and I'm having trouble letting go.

And no, this is not Q or E, but it is "my" PTA that is moving on. We announced the slate of officers for next year at our meeting tonight, and for the first time in 5 years, I am NOT on the list. I was well-groomed for president. I chaired the by-laws committee one year, where we had to revamp our bylaws, meaning, I actually read the things and understand them. I was treasurer for two years, meaning I have a good understanding not only of where our money goes, but of the timing for most programs. I was Council Rep for one year, meaning I learned the workings of the PTA above our local level. And while I'm the first to admit that saying "my" PTA is really funny, because I actually do very little of the real work, I do feel some pride in the fact that I facilitate things. My job as president was to plug people into the right slots. And based on this year, I do think I did an excellent job of that. Because, basically, we rock.

I physically felt an enormous weight lift off my shoulders when the meeting was done tonight and I was not on the chopping block for an officer position. On the other hand, I did feel wistful and more than a little left out. We started off this year a very wounded PTA. We've rebounded. We have about 4x the number of people that regularly show up for meetings this year as we did last year (don't be TOO impressed - we went from 5 to 20). We made so much more money than we'd budgeted for at our winter carnival and our first ever silent auction that we were able to CANCEL our catalogue spring fund raiser. We have the most awesome newsletter in the district (and the state, I think - I'm submitting it for an award), and we are just ridiculous about loving each other. We're having a Cinco de Mayo party in May instead of a regular meeting so we can hang out and continue to foster friendships and brainstorm ideas for next year. I'm hoping we form a circle and sing kum-by-yah. It might just happen.

Seriously, I'm really proud of this year. We healed a lot of wounds and people are having fun.

I DID consider the option of staying on again for another year. I really, actually did. But I hung tough. I need next year to be for my family. My sweet son is in the middle of puberty and middle school, and I need to be there for him. My daughter thinks she doesn't need me, but I obviously need to don my super sensitive mommy-glasses for this one. She's confident enough in herself to be totally dangerous. My husband.... huh. Do I have a husband? Oh yes, I do!!! I need to learn to be a partner again. Next year is going to be all about me and my sweethearts. Oh and yeah. I'm also Principal Investigator on a research investigation to study climate change in the Arctic. Meaning, I have a lot of work to do. I have thesis committees to serve on and papers to write and programs to code and data to merge and field campaigns to go on. I actually have WORK to do.

My gut confirms that 5 years on the PTA board is enough. So I'm happy with the choice I made.

But regardless of that, I have to admit that it's very difficult for us type A balls o' stress to pass along an entire organization to someone else (even when that someone else is a friend). It's a good board (particularly because dear neighbor M is going to be a VP!!). I AM going to have to work very very hard on not shoving unsolicited advice down the new board's throats. Because I have very concrete ideas about the way things should be done. And some of those are right (maybe even most) but I have actually been known to be wrong before, believe it or not. And ultimately, I'm done with the board. It's not my game anymore. Hallelujah and sob sob sob.

Next year's board claims they'll have me on speed dial, and that's ok with me. I just hope they call.