so long, summer

you were so very good to me.

well, well, well…

the summer is now over (according to the approximately one thousand emails i receive daily from my daughter’s middle school). i feel like it is now time to pause and stare up at the clouds and listen to the earth sing its beautiful song in my ears.

this summer was weird and wild.

our oldest was only home for a couple of weeks which made it weird (talk about parenting adult children). but every ounce with him was full and glorious.

the rest of the summer was wild. there was laughter and there were tears and there was travel (Bob and i even got to take a trip together for the first time in 12 years!). there was a month of a glorious ballet intensive and there were also lots and lots of homemade meals and about three bajillion dirty dishes.

we had many, many visitors and real big talks (with some shoe throwing in there) and nearly daily floating and splashing and popsicles in the pool. even though we averaged 2-3 doctors appointments each week, we soaked up every drop of daylight, (which made for really late nights) card games and scrumptious desserts.

and the biggest news of all?
this was the very first summer of
my entire motherhood
where i didn’t feel robbed at the end of it. i am still not sure why exactly that is, but my desire was to soak up every last drop and be so very present, knowing that no day is promised and even though my old life of having all four kids at home for the summer is long gone, i recognize that this new season is also fleeting. so instead of grieving what once was and will never be again, i was constantly so darn grateful for what actually was right in front of my very own eyes.
and that my friend, is a gift.
a gift of summer.