She told me I could be anything I wanted when I grew up. Joked a few times about being a lawyer because of my love of arguing, rolled her eyes and said I should be on stage when I was overly dramatic. I could be anything that I wanted, but “why don’t you think about education, ” she said over and over again.
“You like kids. You’d be good at it. And you’d have summers off.”
Sigh. I should have listened.
It’s officially summer. And every day I leave for work to go sit in my office with the space heater aimed at my feet, (Note to building maintenance: 64 degrees is not comfortable) while my husband and my daughter spend hours together going for walks, hanging out with his family and swimming in the pool.
Yes, Craig still goes to the school in the morning for weight room supervision and football workouts, but he’s home by mid-morning. Even on busy days he spends time with the babe at lunch and then again after her afternoon nap. I come home to find them both damp from their recent dip in the pool. Smiling and happy at having been outside playing together. Making memories. Bonding.
I love that they get this time together. Without my hoovering and barking out orders and enforcing naptime. But at the same time I am jeaous. Of her, that she gets his undivided attention. (And that she gets to take naps twice a day.) And of him for getting more than two or three hours a day with his baby girl.
So, for me, summers are much like the other nine months of the year. Hustle to the office for meetings, phone calls and deadlines. Slow down a little on weekends for early morning walks, short naps by the pool and lots of cooking on the grill. But (at least until C graduates from high school) for the rest of the family, summers will be full of lazy days, fun (and not so fun) projects, swimming and losing track of time.
What does summer mean to you?
This post was inspired by writing prompt #5 (what does summer mean to your family?) by Mama Kat.
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