You wave a teary-eyed goodbye as your husband and son drove out of the driveway. Ashton had insisted on taking Sam to his first day of school and had taken a day off work as a high school music teacher to do so. It was a kind of father-son bonding experience that you knew Ash had been craving since the day you found out you were expecting a healthy baby boy. He had been out of luck the first two times. Speaking of which, your eldest daughter, Anna, has her first day of middle school today and you have merely minutes before you have to be out the door. You call up the stairs for her to get dressed. Maddy is still waiting patiently at the kitchen table for her older sister when Anna appears in the doorway, wearing more eyeliner than a raccoon. You sigh before pointing to the bathroom and instructing her to wash her face before you confiscate her beauty products and her phone. You hate to play Bad Cop, but right now, you don't have the time or the effort to deal with her preteen antics.
