Nothing signals the start of summer more to me than my
box of books always delivered to my husband’s office. I always order as school ends
from Amazon at least 12-15 new books and then take about another 5-6 out from
library or borrow from friends.
Fiction, memoirs, always a business book in there, a time
management book, a how to raise teens book. Ahh..I can’t wait!
The last week of school signifies to me in no way
vacation as it is hard to have three teens home alone and juggle the camp
schedules and activities and non activities etc. But..and big but…we stop our family night and we stop our non-essential
to do list. We have one to do list each and it is essential items only (school
supplies, uniforms, washing, eating, bdays to celebrate etc..) I think my Hubby
celebrated not to see his long list every Tuesday morning for summer!
Literally every else goes on to “Fall list” (banister broke
upstairs put a danger rope on it and pray. Hair is brittle and spit ends-put it
in a ponytail. Need a new toothbrush-wait until fall. This is the only only only way to find a little
peace and relaxation. And even with this system evenings are filled with packing
lunches and camp bags and doing the perfect ballet bun for the dance camps. We
food shop and have to run out and get last minute steel toe boots for Dircamp.
But…but…:
For the first time since last summer all 5 of us sat down
and watched a show together during the eek! Americus’s Got Talent. And that was
really really nice. And the reading has begun! Right now reading a memoir of the
kidnapped journalist in Afganishatan and her 15 month captivity. Can’t wait to
get home and read.
And this weekend was a nice start to the summer.
Transition is always hard for me..And hard to unwind so had 4 days for long holiday
weekend and first two I was going crazy with my family-last two I was fully relaxed.
We had nice sunny weather and the kids waterskied and tubed and knee boarded.
We had nice dinner and lunches by the lake and on the porch. We watched a great
family movie and made brownies. Then my older son took the bus all the way to
cottage from downtown and we picked him up 20 mins away and he drove back to
cottage himself. A first on all counts.
My fave part of weekend (besides reading!) was watching
the fireworks in our boat on the lake on Monday night. It was so fun-Chase
drove the boat and we danced and sang and honked the horn. It was truly like
being with three adults-so much fun.
And Beauty was a sweetie this weekend and very close to me
(yay!). After the fireworks she asked me if she and I could sleep outside and
we did-it was fun giggling the two of us with big blankets on top of us. I
loved every second.
And Bear and I talked a lot about the love of his life. He
is at her house now having dinner and meeting the parents! Tomorrow she comes
over and meet his Grandma.wow young..but unstoppable it seems. She is a very nice
beautiful girl.
The only part of weekend we could have done without was
the trip to Hospital as Bear accidently slammed the trunk of car of Hubby’s
head!!!!! Ouch!!!
I loved having all 5 of us under one roof for a couple of
days. Tuesday was so rainy so we took a couple of hours to plan out “a
successful summer” (chores, food, bedtimes, etc..) and although kids resisted
this I know it was good to align and spell out our expectations. Then they all
played a board game with Hubby and I got to read on my own out on the old bail
bed in the porch under the rain.
This weekend gave me a little taste of how doing nothing
feels. I can’t wait to have vacation and do more of nothing. Truly.
And then the beginning of this week even when working
trying to make my days more summery by getting up earlier and taking time to
drive the carpools to camp and hearing all the dancing ballet girls in my van
giggling..Stopping at Walmart on the way home and leisurely looking at the different
gifts and foods. Making everything less tense and stressful. Taking the time to
chat at the coffee machine which I rarely do. Asking my buddy spontaneously to leave
work and go out for a quick lunch-which I never ever do. Summer! It feels like
years that I have stopped a moment at work. Today I let myself for one day slow
down juts a little. Tomorrow will pick it all back up.
Next weekend another holiday weekend (love Canada for
this!) and each kid has two friends up to Trent and a big party weekend. Will be
great to have all the kids and their buddies up …
Anyways the box of books is always a hidden joy for me.
More than a new pair of shoes-or tickets to a concert-or a new outfit or car.
Books. On a continuous quest to turn my kids into readers. Not likely given
that for school they have 20 books a year to read….but still there is nothing like
reading for pleasure.
Nothing is even remotely comparable. Not even a cupcake
