Confession time – it’s been a rough summer.
I don’t like saying that, because I tend towards the belief that perspective matters, and while I can’t necessarily change the reality, I can change the way I look at it. BUT – it’s kind of a relief to just admit that it hasn’t been all sunshine and roses around here, and I’m looking forward to the total shake-up that comes when all the kids go back to school, the focus shifts from summer to the New Year and the fall.
In so many ways – this was a great summer. We had a bunch of little mini-breaks and day trips, managed to go bike riding and blueberry picking and star gazing. We hit Edaville Railroad and Great Wolf Lodge. We went camping once. There were many, many lemonade stands. We made it to the drive in, at least Marc and the kids did. We rearranged bedrooms, and went for long walks, went swimming. A lot. The kids all grew up in little ways and in big ones. There were milestones reached, cookies baked, books read and movies watched.
But… I’m still ready for summer to be over. It’s also been a season with a lot of bickering, Jessie and Sam and Julie spent virtually all of their time together – which is wonderful in a lot of ways, but also led to a lot of conflict. They are three different kids, at different ages and stages. At times, they all chafed at the restrictions posed by one of the other. We fought, at times, with both parties insisting on the same thing – the other one wants total control over all the toys, and can’t believe that they have to share or compromise. Or, my personal favorite, when we’d get into a battle insisting that the other person was always mad at us. There’s no way for anyone to win that brawl.
Marc is in a transition between jobs, when he isn’t working, he’s studying. Which means that he’s super busy and totally stressed. If he has any spare time, it’s going to be spent reading to Julie or playing with Sam or helping Jessie with the dreaded math homework. It’s not going to be doing the dishes or taking out the trash. And it seems stupid and petty to complain about the housework, so I won’t (okay, maybe just a little) – but wow, I really hate the constant, unending amount of housecleaning that having five people rocking around the house all day creates.
Ugh. I’m just ready for the season shift. We’ve got backpacks assembled, school clothes bought and summer reading/math assignments done (mostly, anyway). School starts for the older two next Wednesday, and for Julie the following Tuesday. I’m looking forward to apple picking and chicken soup bubbling. For round challah for the New Year, and leaves changing. Breaking out the blue jeans and new socks (I have to buy new socks for everyone every fall because someone steals all of them over the summer, I have long given up trying to figure that one out…)
Bring on the fall, people. We’re ready.
One of my favorite pics of a cooler weather Julianna
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