I can taste summer.
As a homeschooling mom, summer has a certain sweetness that is reminiscent of carefree childhood days: we will be done with curriculum; I will get to read my own books; the sometimes incorrigible students I must deal with in the morning will once again become my all-day comrades.
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| Summer 2007 |
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| Summer 2008 |
Summer tastes like juicy nectarines, salt water, and happy squeals of laughter all blended together.
Can you taste it? Can you feel the long days of togetherness descending on your family like it is settling on mine?
We will drive to Fredericksburg for peaches and to go to the WWII museum there. Some day when it is hotter than you-know-where we will go to the Children’s museum and explore every corner. We will run through sprinklers and eat popsicles. We will read a gazillion books from the library, keep a list of how many that really is, and reward ourselves with more books the next week.
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| Summer 2009 |
I will spread a big blanket out in the living room one night and we will eat dinner and watch old family movies. Mr. Fantastic and I will instantly be rid of wrinkles and age on our TV. Boy 1 will be seen as a three year-old, holding my lipstick in one hand and my new bedding covered in his lipstick art in another. Baby Lady will be a real baby again, sitting in a high chair and screaming at her three brothers to make them laugh. We will watch Boy 2 get hit in the head with a toy bat and cry alligator tears. Boy 3 will be the first one awake on Christmas, a little baby with a confused look holding a new light saber.
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| Summer 2010 |
Summer is for all of us to find new paths to joy through jokes, books, trips, and quiet moments at home.
We will do all of this and more this summer. This is the only summer I have with them, my eight year-old Jude, seven year-old Jack, six year-old Jase, and three year-old Finley. Next year I will spend the summer with slightly different versions of these little people. I will love them just as much, if not more; just like I love them as much or more than I did last year. But I will miss the toothless smiles, little hands, and younger faces I see today. I know that because I stare at them and wonder when the children from last year faded and these giant, mature people took over.
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| Summer 2011 |
Summer days are long, but our years together are so short. I plan to make the most of every single day so that some day, when my grandchildren sit and watch videos of their parents seeing the Pacific for the very first time I can tell them how it seems like yesterday I held my babies’ hands and sank into the sand.
Then I will close my eyes and remember how I savored every moment.
Oh, yes, I can taste summer coming and it is going to be glorious.
