Summertime

I love summertime... picnics, swimming, playing tennis, families getting together to laugh, play games and sometimes…just doing nothing at all…  That is how I imagine our summer will go at the end of every school year.  The fact is too much togetherness can turn ugly for us.  I observe other mothers in the park saying, “yes Lovey?” and “what else can I get you my sweet?” or “of course I will play monster chasing you around the park for the next…oh…2 hours?  Here I come!!  Grrr!!”     How do they stay that nice?  I’m pissed off and bored a good 73% of the time (my 15 year old helped me work out that math).   So I usually spend the summer planning and driving to and from activities for the children, or trying to figure out who is still in San Francisco that will play with my children.  This morning is no different.

When I finally get them off to their respective activities I sit with a cup of coffee and reflect on the morning.  It was the usual routine… 

1. Oldest can’t have use of computer for licking his finger and sticking it in Middle's orange juice (daily ritual).

2. Middle can’t have his half hour of TV for sucker punching youngest because youngest stole his Bakugan…then kicking oldest in the “balls” because he made fun of the fact that he still likes Bakugan…and for saying “balls”.  

3. Youngest is sitting “quietly” in the living room to think about “what he has done” (at this point none of us are quite sure).

I sigh and hope they all forget my threats, for the afternoon looms long and dreary with no electronics to look forward to.  I think about arranging a play date, but despite the fact that none of my friends have “help” (housekeepers, gardeners and cooks don’t count) and all they really want to do is “spend time with their children” and all they really care about is “family” they are rarely available. Still, in a desperate move, I try one more time.

 “I’d LOVE to sweetie” Sabrina shouts into her phone, “but I’m off to my 'STDs for Public Schools' board meeting!”  Wha…??  “YES!  Our involvement is critical…now more than EVER!”  “Are you for it or against it?” I tentatively ask.  “DARLING!  I am categorically FOR it!  The benefits are irrefutable.  Oh.  “Sabrina?” I cautiously ask, “what exactly does STD stand for?”   “Save The Dance!!  PLEASE don’t tell me you don’t know about it.  You MUST have gotten the invitation to our gala in the fall!”  “Our goal is to have dance in the public schools once a week at the very LEAST!”  “Do they have it in Josephine’s school?” I ask.  “No sweetie, the curriculum at my Josephine’s school is just too intense.  Anyway,  Lovie, are you at home?”  “Yessss…” I respond warily.  “Would you mind horribly if I dropped Clara and Minnie off for just a little while?  I have to make it to this board meeting, and poor Analeticia is exhausted!  She’s worked five nights this week already, and I’m out again tonight.  I could just cry!  You know me, all I want to do is crawl into my pajamas and snuggle with my little ones.  It’s what I live for!” 

As Clara, Minnie and I sit in the playroom trying to convince a skeptical Youngest that unicorn games are absolutely for boys too, I concentrate on keeping my eyelids from shutting and my head from hitting the floor.  It’s not that I don’t also live for snuggling my little ones, and it’s not that my family is not the most important thing in the universe to me, there is just something about that playroom that makes me sooo tired.

 

 

Comments

[Sara Sterling]

This may help. It's called a "Moscow Mule":

2 oz vodka
1 oz freshly squeezed lime juice
organic ginger ale
slice of lime

Stir the vodka and lime juice in tall glass half filled with ice. Top off with ginger ale. Decorate with a slice of lime.

[Sara Sterling]

I specified "organic" ginger ale so the parents won't get upset when their child has regular soda.

[E cig]

whered you get the unicorn?