In the summer, all bets are off. Kids are home from school -- an even more glaring change for me these days since some of mine are away at college during the school year -- and the schedule is different every day. I no longer have the excuse of it being a school day to keep the family tucked safely in the house; they scatter and vanish, returning only to grab a bathing suit. Are they using sunscreen, have they eaten their vegetables? Are they hydrating?
And food. I shop, then a horde of locusts sails through and the cupboards are bare and the dishwasher is full and who left a peanut butter knife on the counter again? I swear I put six of those away every afternoon. Popsicles and watermelons chill next to the Hershey bars in case a s'mores craving hits. Meals are haphazard and mostly grilled; sometimes there's a crowd at the table and the next day it's only me and my husband.
Oh, who am I kidding. I love this too! Spinning summer days flash by in a daze of color and motion. The summer is short and fast, and finally there is an excuse to gobble that ice cream cone in sixty seconds flat. Pockets of calm and togetherness, like today as the girls and I hung out by the pool, reminding ourselves about how they used to make me pull them by their feet through the water, and stand with my legs apart so they could courageously swim between them. They teased me about not wanting to get my hair wet (yikes, I am getting old!) and wearing a swim suit with a skirt (it's cute! I swear!).
And in a minute it will be gone with the last flash of a firefly's butt.
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