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mara williams
on May 21 2013 - 06:00 AM
Summer break has this mom on a house upkeep war path.
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I stop and look at the calendar and realize that there are only about six weeks until school starts. Really, only six weeks? I don’t know whether I should laugh or cry.
When the weather gets warmer and those last few weeks of school are upon us, I am ready for summer vacation. I look forward to a reprieve from school programs and waking kids up early in the morning. Taking a sabbatical from making school lunches is priceless. Sure, nothing changes with my schedule; I still have to get up and go to work, but in the grand scheme of things, I am easy to maintain.
Summer is a treat for my family because the last eleven years of my career I have worked on the weekends. The times the kids have off school that coincide on my days off are special. We may not do anything over-the-top, but we are together. That counts for a lot.
The last six weeks of summer break have been anything but laid back. One girl chose to go to summer school; another is working and packing because too soon she will be leaving for college. The boys are in and out of the house, have already been on one camping trip and they are furiously getting ready for a week of play with nana and papa followed by ten days of stifling-hot scout camp. I am shopping, list writing and worrying about a trip I am getting ready to take, without the kids.
What was I dreaming of way back in May when I hardly had a chance to stop and breathe?
Impromptu trips to the swimming pool-yes we have accomplished this. De-vining and uprooting volunteer trees in the back yard-it is a work-in-progress. Trips to buy ice cream were a must for beating this heat. A couple of family get-togethers have filled in the gaps. For this recent holiday, a rare, three day weekend for me, I grilled some steaks and we feasted and made a last minute trip to see the local fireworks display. Not a lot of work, a little togetherness and we felt a little more festive than if we had not done anything at all.
We have one more week of quality togetherness before we shift gears and our life starts getting topsy-turvy. Possibly one more trip to the pool and at least one required picnic in the future and another, just because we want to.
I will shed no tears, summer’s not over yet. May you all enjoy every minute of yours.
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