Growing up, summer was always my favorite. That wasn't very unique, I imagine every child's favorite season is summer. As I've gotten older, I have come to appreciate aspects of each season (Colorful leaves in the fall! Flowers blooming in spring! Snow falling . . . no, scratch that, I still hate winter.)
Of course summer isn't a season-long break for adults. Even though I only work (for pay) part time, I still have plenty of work to do here on my days off. Even though family vacations mean fun and adventure, there's so much work for the adults to take care of (Planning! Packing! Driving! Cooking and cleaning anyway!)
When I start to think about all the work of our big road trip in a few weeks, and making sure everything at home and work are taken care of in our absence, and remembering I still have to arrange some childcare for days I'm working, I can start to feel a little anxious about summer instead of excited.
I hate it.
So I tell myself to calm down, prioritize what needs to be done, make a list, tackle it, yadda yadda yadda. And maybe most importantly, remember that it's almost SUMMER and I LOVE summer! All I have to do is look at pictures from last weekend . . . we didn't even spend all of Memorial Day weekend at the lake, just over 24 hours. But we packed in so much of what I love about summer, I can look at these pictures and remember what's in store:
1. Family time around the campfire and lots and lots of marshmallows.
 | ||||
| My husband declared this marshmallow he roasted to be "absolutely perfect, the Beyoncé of marshmallows" and insisted on letting me have it. #truelove |
2. Currently our weekday mornings consist of me scrambling to get the kids out to the bus on time. There are frequent tears. I'm looking forward to more mornings like this, lazing about and enjoying each other and nature:
3. We won't just be having lazy mornings but lots of lazy days. I'm a firm believer in letting the kids be bored until they figure out how to entertain themselves and if it means something like this, so be it:
4. All the outdoor activities that we enjoy as a family! Hiking, biking, kayaking!
 |
| Sometimes even the dog gets involved! |
5. The magic of this last picture captures the most important part of this summer: no, not sparklers, family time together! That is always a priority but this summer will take on a new relevance. Our daughter is going to be going to college about five hours away this August, and we are going to miss her terribly. She's going to miss us, too, but she has a special adoration for one of her siblings in particular. That's him in this picture, making it an especially magical snapshot of this relationship and the best reminder of what I'm looking forward to this summer.
 |
No comments:
Post a Comment