39 Days

"Ah, summer- what power you have to make us suffer and like it." -Russel Baker


I am in my pajamas....not because it is 10:00 pm, but because I have been in them all day. I also had a nap today-- in fact, I had two. I have watched an abnormal amount of HGTV, yet I can't recall any details of anything I viewed. My house is in shambles due to 4 children being left to their own devices and luckily, my mother sent home a loaf of her homemade bread with us yesterday or those 4 children may have starved. I am not kidding-- I seriously popped 2 bags of popcorn for dinner.

 I woke up today feeling like I had been all I could be, given all I could give, and today it was time for a break. Couple that with the fact, that I came home from camping feeling like I was run over by a Mack truck, with a sore throat, and congestion that makes me sound like the dog my kids want, but can't have and the result you get is my day.

All was not lost, I will have you know that I did do something today. I looked up the date that school starts- August 24th. With today being the 16th there are 15 more days left in July and 24 until the first day of school in August, add them together and we end up with 39 more days of summer. I didn't look it up to know how many more days I had to endure my children being home all day because actually I really enjoy them being around. I looked it up to know how much longer I have to endure the non-schedule of summer, because I think it is starting to wear on me.

It seems like since the last day of school we have been running- and not the good kind of running that I really love. I feel like we have been running from one activity to the other, from one vacation to the next, and from one family get together to another, all in the name of summer. Don't get me wrong, I love to have fun like spending long days in amusement parks and weeks living in a tent with no running water and the nearest flush toilet 275 steps (yes, I counted) in the dark from my campsite because we are making memories. Memories that I hope my kids will repeat someday over a campfire to their kids in the same campground we frequent and on their first time visiting the same amusement park. Having no particular schedule to follow leaves way for plenty of memory making; perhaps just too much for my own good.

So I guess I've started looking forward to a time when bedtimes are set and adhered to. A time when the schedule includes homework, projects, and reading hours. A time when fun things are put on the calendar to look forward to during breaks and vacations. A time when life is somewhat predictable again.

Then 2 months into that time I'll be looking forward to a carefree summer again.