“Summer’s lease hath all too short a date.” ― William Shakespeare

Phew!  After over a month of Julia going MIA...I'm back!

With another miscarriage and my father-in-law's passing away, we had a pretty rough spring.

Plus, I swear the last month of school is the worst!  Concerts and meetings and graduations and award ceremonies and more concerts, it was all I could do to just keep up to the day to day mayhem of family life!

Then summer began which brings it's own transitioning and activities (including a two-week family vacation).

Long story short...I'm still alive (barely) and finally getting back into writing.  It feels so GOOD!

So today...

Let's talk about Summer.  

JL shooting BB Guns @ Day Camp

Technically, this our first "real" summer vacation.  When homeschooling we'd just flow into summer with few changes, just a more relaxed schedule.  With my kids coming back home, I had all sorts of plans and dreams!  Park dates and library visits.  Free summer movies.  The kids setting goals and working diligently.  More hands to help me do the chores again (yay!).  And reading aloud!

Well...I have to admit, that is not really how things have been going. Yes, they have been working on their goals, we had a fabulous family vacation, we are reading together, and for the most part we're having some good times.  However, the problem is ME.

I'm loving them being home too much.

All summer it seems I've been thinking "Only X more weeks and then they're gone again," trying to make every minute count.  I feel like I need to be with them all the time and feel a bit guilty doing stuff without them or keeping them home while I go do stuff (some necessary, some not).  I've been hoping they're happy...not too overschduled, not too bored.  I'm trying to be at their beck and call, available for their every need.

Grandma and Grandpa with their 24 grandchildren

Well, as much as I believe it's Mom's responsibility to be available for her children, this mentality of "missing my kids before they're even gone" has left me feeling overwhelmed and exhausted at the end of the day!

So, I decided to stop it.  :-)  I've decided to just let the kids be kids!  If we do stuff together, great.  If they just hang out together and meander around with friends, great.  I just want to make each day what it is....a day.  Some days we'll work and some days we'll play.  Some days we'll be busy, some days they just might get bored!  It doesn't really matter.  My mental presence is more important than my physical presence right now.  If I am constantly dwelling on "six weeks from now," the memories will not be memorable (in a good way at least).  I need to start enjoying the moments I do get rather than forcing or missing the ones I don't.

A good friend of mine who has gone and raised her seven kids once said, "I did the summers where the kids learned how to sew or do this or that.  But the best summers seemed to be the ones where we just kicked up our heels and ate popsicles."  I love that because I need to remember it!

So, welcome to MY summer.  I hope your is going well and you are enjoying your children!

*****

“Summer will end soon enough, and childhood as well.” 

― George R.R. Martin

“Some of the best memories are made in flip flops.” 

― Kellie Elmore

“I wonder what it would be like to live in a world where it was always June.” 

― L.M. Montgomery

“Rejoice as summer should…chase away sorrows by living.” 

 --Melissa Marr

A with cousins ready to climb the ropes course @ Aspen Grove