It’s after 10 p.m. The girls are tucked away to dream about tooth fairies and strawberry milkshakes, and Dan is out with a friend. I’ve claimed the night as my writing space and am sitting crosslegged on our balcony letting the full weight of star-studded infinity muddle my brain. I loved doing this as a child, gazing into space until the dizzy wonder of it dangled me by my ankles.
This summer has been nothing like I expected. Remember my worry over failing to plan enough activities? This is the part where I get back into a yoga routine just so I can gain enough flexibility to kick myself upside the head. If you have a weak heart or a judgment complex, please don’t read the following sentence: I haven’t taken the girls to our neighborhood park once this summer. Not a single time. And that was the one activity I didn’t plan as we would already be going every day, duh. What I failed to factor into my research on libraries and water parks was that our family thrives on spontaneity. Since returning from Scotland, we have gone on three more trips, hosted visitors twice, had seven groups over for dinner, and gone on a variety of social outings, none of which came with much advance notice. Combined with the surprising fullness of daily life with the girls, I haven’t had enough downtime to remember I’m supposed to be combating boredom.
To throw another little twist in the mix, summer abruptly went from HOT, HOT, MUST DUNK HEAD IN A VAT OF PARTIALLY MELTED POPSICLES NOW to breezy and Septemberly a couple of weeks ago, and all the pool playdates I had imagined were relegated to the same dusty corner as the fans. If you live in the Southwest, please don’t read the following sentence: I am wearing a sweatshirt right now. The mind, it boggles.
I feel I should assure you all that I have been working on my recap from our Scotland trip, but it has quite the ego and has started fancying itself to be a novel. I will be sure to share once I wrangle it into submission. Not tonight though. It’s time to turn off my computer, look into the sky, and let the breezy impulses of our summer spiral into the vast universe until I am weightless.
I haven’t been to the park once either! Weird. Oh, wait. We did go on July third to watch the fireworks. But that doesn’t even count. You have been so busy! And I can hardly imagine you in a sweatshirt, but I can envision the night sky surrounding you and I am glad you got off the computer just in time to have it whisk you away…xo!
By the way, OpenID doesn’t seem to be working. It keeps eating my awesome comments.
Megsie – It looks like you all have been plenty busy too. I guess this just isn’t the year for parks?
Liz – Sorry! I can’t get OpenID to work perfectly either… You could just put in your name and URL until I get it figured out. Hope you remember some of your awesome comments!