It's the latest greeting these days..."So how's your summer?" or "Glad it's summer?"
I always reply with a positive, "It's goin' great!" or "Yes, LOVE having the kids home."
And it's true. I love summer.
But, there's a trade-off. With the good, comes some not-so-great. That's life.
That trade-off revolves around the fact that all these kids are home. They want to read, and play, and explore, and need help tying shoes, and want to go the pool, and eat (Lord, do they eat!), and snack some more, and then they want to do a craft, and help with something (anything), and dig in dirt, and turn on a sprinkler, and cut open a freeze-pop, and play a card game or do a puzzle, go to the park, and on and on. All this stuff that I love to do with my kiddos. LOVE it! Love THEM! And so...we do these things. And we enjoy the fact that the days; our schedules allow it. And it's wonderful (except for the grocery bill part), And we're all exhausted...and then they all fall into bed much later than on a school night, and it's a wonderful thing. GOd is good!
But then, I realize I've gotten absolutely NOTHING done that day. The kind of things that I had all kinds of time to do when they were at school all day. The kind of things that dear husband notices didn't get done when he walks in from work...like laundry, and clean-up and groceries. When on earth will I find time to get groceries when my kids don't go to bed till 10?! Haa!
And so now I'm back to folding laundry at midnight, like the days when kids were littler and husband worked evening shift. Oh, but I'm older now. And my days are fuller, and oi. Who wants to stay up this late anymore? (and still get up at 7?)
I do. Because it's summer. And because I LOVE this tiny window of time. This gift. This opportunity to enjoy them entirely. High school graduations are timed perfectly at the beginning of summer I think, as a subtle reminder that our babies grow all too fast. (only coincidentally that it's the end of the school year too...whatever.)
Still. It's summer. And about the time I get used to this crazy nutty "laid-back" summer schedule, school will come around, stealing my babes away from my days once again. And I'll be singing the praises of a schedule that allows me to fold underwear during daylight hours. Perhaps until that time though, these glowing jars of fireflies will have to light my way through the summer laundry late-nighters.
Let the memory-making continue.
Enjoy your summer!
