I blinked and suddenly it's the 4th of July next week, which always feels like the beginning and end of summer to me.
I want lazy days of gardening and splashing in the river and eating popsicles and ice cream and hanging out in the yard. But gardening isn't lazy and then there's all the fresh food to process. I love canning and jamming, but it's not fitting in so well with Elizabeth's nap time or with Brian's work schedule this year. I'm still navigating his second shift hours and sleep schedule that has me yearning to run or garden or DO something in the cool early hours and then sweating when 10, 10:30 rolls around and I finally have a hand with the girls.
I'm trying to find family time and us time and me time and work time. I want garden time and running time and reading time and canning time. And there just isn't that much time. So I'm trying to prioritize (ugh) and let go.
Yesterday, Kathleen asked me to fill up the pool, which is really a tiny sandbox. Then she wanted to practice swimming, so she asked me to take her to the waterfall. The waterfall is a great little swimming hole minutes from our house—with big, rough, awkward steps to get down to it, very difficult to navigate for 3 year old legs. It was hot and I just wanted to sit and drink iced coffee and read a book. But while I sipped, I mulled it over. It would cool us all off. Okay. Yes.
It did cool us all off, even though Elizabeth clung to me the entire time. Kathleen laughed and shrieked the way kids do in water. Seriously, I think there is a specific pitch they hit when splashing. Her eyes sparkled even as she shivered, or as she would say, shimmered.
By the time we got home she was melting down again, the problem being the wrong popsicle. Sigh. It's not perfect, but we splashed in the river and ate popsicles and ice cream and after the kids went to bed, I emptied the kiddie pool and watered my peppers, so I guess I got gardening in there too.
July and August stretch before me with raspberries and green beans and cucumbers and tomatoes, cookouts, vacation?, another trip home to the beach. There is so much I want to do and so much nothing I want to do. I'm working on some odd balance of both.
I always find it hard to juggle family time and other things... plus 'me' time... too :) Going swimming sounds wonderful :)) Hope you find your ideal balance soon xoxo
ReplyDeleteI wish I could live in the land of an endless summer. Looks like I'm going to have to come and live with you guys from June to August each year! Sounds perfect to me.
ReplyDeletexo
The swim sounds lovely. It is hard to balance it all. So much I want to do but just no time. Or the time falls at the wrong time of the day. Thankful for this second morning nap of his so I have time for breakfast! Good luck today with your time management and may there be fewer meltdowns!
ReplyDeleteI love to think of Kathleen shimmering, and I sympathize hugely with trying to balance doing and resting time.
ReplyDeleteYesterday, Dot through an absolute fit when N wouldn't wear his heavy winter coat to take her to the park. These little things - the wrong color coat, the wrong popsicle - have so much significance and are so hard to anticipate. I hope that this, at least, is one thing that gets easier as they grow older.
'There is so much I want to do and so much nothing I want to do.'
ReplyDeleteI think that is the uneasy feeling that sometimes troubles me. That there are so many things I would like to do and yet I would, occasionally, just like to sit quietly.
Glad that your girls enjoyed the swimming and I'm sorry about the wrong popsicle.