Another Year Down

Seventh grade is done. Even as I write those words it seems impossible. Weren't we just taking them to preschool yesterday? Didn't we just walk them to first grade recently? Next year at this time there will be a graduation ceremony and party. They will be headed towards high school, already registered and ready.
Seventh grade is supposed to be just another year, but it feels really momentous. The girls are full-fledged teenagers. They talk about high school and dances and college already. They are growing into lovely young women.
It seems impossible that they are going into eighth grade. It is like we blinked and they are speeding towards high school.