Summertime

It is now June and school is let out for the summer. Although I too am jubilant about this fact ( I am a teacher as is my husband) the prospect of a house filled with tween girls frightens and in some ways delights me. The summer vacation is but a day old and already weekend long sleepovers have been planned; the nail polish and movies chosen, the snacks high and plentiful.



I tell myself that this is the summer of youth, the days long, hot and lazy; the nights cool and full of entertaining talk. It must be wonderful to be young, to embrace each day without a worrisome thought or care. The fridge is full of delicious things to eat and the crumb cake I made yesterday has but a few short hours. The boys who once walked my block unnoticed are now met with a chorus of girlish screams, and a dozen feet scramble from window to window just to watch them saunter by. No, it's not George, Paul, John and Ringo. Just Justin and Xavier, the two coolest sixth graders from the local middle school.


Oh, how I could enjoy this youth if only it were my own! My mind would be filled with the most satisfying dreams of love and adventure. What will I be? Who will I marry? But it is not, so therefore I watch with envy and amusement the carefree moments of my daughter and her friends. I give and then give some more because these are moments to treasure and turn to memories. They will provide a cushion on which to ride into those bumpy stages of life before adulthood. It will prove to be a necessary foundation upon which to build the character and love that a mother carries inside for her children. I want for her what I could not have myself.


Although we have been denied so much, it takes but little to see the power of love. In the blink of an eye the summer will be over, and we will trudge through red and yellow falling leaves as the wind swirls them underfoot. Another school year upon us; another season to dream our very own dreams. And on and on....