Hooray!!! It's SUMMER HOLIDAYS!
Don't feel guilty if your shoulders slumped just a little when I wrote that.
Not every mother relishes the thought of having her gorgeous busy children home for the entire summer. Not every family jumps in the 60 foot RV and roars off to the beachy sunset. Not every child WANTS 60 days with nothing to do. And not every family can afford to (financially or otherwise) book summer camps, playdates and daytrips to Discovery Canyon.
My family fits into the 'all of the above' category. I must be honest. I LOVE my children, and I love that they LOVE their summer holidays... but I don't always love having four kids at home during the summer.
Our holidays will zoom by at record pace. We will vacation a little together. We've got 10 days at the lake and two family reunions to attend. My older two will travel across the province to visit some of their extended family and my husband and I will continue to work. My younger two will make occasional trips to their favorite caregivers house where they will go to the park, jump on the trampoline and be treated like royalty. We'll squeeze in numerous day trips to local lakes and parks, try to get in a day or two of fishing and enjoy the sunshine.
My oldest wants to get a job. His first real job. He wants to earn some money for fall and is eager to test out his wings. He also wants a month at the lake with his cousins and a couple weeks to skateboard, play video games, hang out with friends and go visit his birth father. This is a taste of adulthood. He's realizing he can't do it all. He must pick and prioritize. What's most important? What will he forgo?
My second oldest is content to do very little. But within a the week, I will be driven out of my mind with the ringing of the telephone and whimpery friend withdrawal. Thirteen is a tough age. Girlfriends begin to stick like glue and we'll all experience her severe summer separation anxiety.
My third is the hardest to keep happy. Not only is she an A-personality and over-achiever but she is so physically active that for a day to pass without three to six laps around the local lake trails on her bike, an hour on the monkey bars and eight hours of school and extracurricular activities to keep her occupied, she gets seriously bored. This is turn aggrivates the hell out of me. She is seven. I am not complaining about her activity level. In fact, if I could simply adopt her way of living, I would not have to worry about the extra weight I carry. There would be none. I might look ridiculous skipping everywhere but I'd be darn skinny.
My littlest one is easy to please. She will be content to follow her siblings, eat the occasional popsicle and get to the beach once or twice. Barbies in the sandbox is her idea of an afternoon well spent.
Meanwhile, I will dash in and out of the house between work and home and try not to be governed by the summer guilt. (yes Holly - I realize 'Guilt is a useless emotion!') You know, the guilt that comes with having to work even though your children are begging you to take them to the lake. The guilt that comes from not wanting to run my ass off to get them to gymnastics say camps and art classes between sales calls and work deadlines.
Instead, I will come home to wet towels slapped on the laundry room floor from the sprinkler, an empty refrigerator and popcorn ground into the carpet, only to start a hotdog barbecue supper with a side of Lay's Dill Pickle Chips and corn on the cob. Bedtime will run too late and I will spend the majority of my evening crouched over my sweet little garden flowers waving my arms to rid myself of the mosquitoes like a horse swishing its tail in the pasture.
And I will enjoy every little minute of it. Too soon I will be lamenting the start of new school routines and the bustle of busy schedules. So what if we eat late? So what if I do eight more loads of sandy laundry a week? I guess I could hang them to dry. And what's the big deal if we stay up late together and watch a movie or two?
Summer may not be routine or even relaxing, but it is play time. Down time. We don't have to be busy and occupied year round. Sometimes we have to stop running the rat race. It's okay be forced to be bored. To lie in the sun and drink lemonade and read a trashy novel. To sleep late and let our bodies heal. The splash in the lake and eat easy meals. To miss your friends and your schedule.
My husband is in his summer glory. He's at home today whipper-snippering the hell out of our lawn and spending a sunfilled afternoon playing with the girls. He just called to say he's BBQing pork tenderloin for dinner but will wait to start it till I get home. He's got a cooler on ice for me. This week is supposed to hit 33. No rain in sight. That means a couple of hot days that will be well spent on the sand.
Hooray!! It's summer holidays!!
