To say that we run around like chickens with our heads cut off would be a gross understatement. To say we fall into bed each night exhausted from a busy day at work and play would be one, as well. It's more like we have been forced into an obligatory life-imposed Attention Deficit. What happened to the lazy hazy days of summer we spent the colder months dreaming of? I don't think they exist for any of us. When I was a child, one glorious summer day blended with the next, and the next, and the next. We got up early, ate breakfast, arrived at the beach before the lifeguards, left the beach long after the lifeguards, ate supper, played at the playground and went to bed. Sprinkled in the middle were odd chores like walking Stormy (the favored pooch), playing with Matt (the favored baby brother) and gathering kindling for regular campfires. For a child, life really doesn't get much better.
Sadly, my children have never experienced summer life in that way. They pack for camp, go to camp, get picked up from camp, pack for camp, go to camp, get picked up from camp, and so on. For most of the summer. They have very, very few days to lie around and do nothing. I feel bad for them. For instance, our 17-year-old daughter went to Girls State (week-long mock government activities--so awesome!--sponsored by the American Legion) two days after we returned from our crazy little vacation in Williamsburg, VA, with another family (see previous blog). After Girls State, we both spent a super intense week preparing for the Miss West Virginia's Outstanding Teen pageant to be held in Morgantown, WV. She hit the pike for the pageant and I finished up the particulars. A friend and four of her five children stayed with us and then we all headed for Morgantown. Once home from the pageant, where our dear daughter made the top eight, she took a nap, re-packed and headed out to Bible camp in Pennsylvania for a week. Hubby picked her up Friday evening and Saturday morning she and her younger sister went to a Pirates' game and concert with friends. Yesterday, the girls unpacked from the game and concert, re-packed and joined two of their brothers and lots of others for a local week-long mission trip in Capon Bridge WV (sponsored by our church). She is planning to attend another youth activity in Cumberland, MD, over the weekend.
While our daughter is running with her choke out, her parents and siblings are neither twiddling their thumbs nor lazing around. Rather, we are working here at home and out in the cut-throat world of business, packing and unpacking for other camps, preparing for and performing at various storytelling events, harvesting vegetables, killing fleas (on the pets and in the house), teaching Boy Scout Merit Badges (okay, just one so far, but it's time-consuming), having babies (congrats on John Patrick's healthy birth, Cheryl and Bill!), holding an Eagle Scout ceremony, completing long-neglected writing projects, and trying to find a dependable cheap/free car. There are lots of other things on all of our plates but there is really no need to continue. Everybody's busy--cold, but true.
So, what do we do to reclaim the summer? Well, as far as I can see, we finish up the last camp experience (Boy Scout Camp) and guard August jealously. Unfortunately, our college student returns for R.A. training on August 8 and our daughter's Trojanette activities begin around the same time. Grrr--to what do we say, "NO?!" I wonder if you can imagine how happy I was when the power went out last week and did not return completely for five days. The phone and Internet lines were damaged and stayed that way for eight days, and I wasn't one bit sorry.
A complete collapse of technology in our world? Bring it on, at least until we get tired of having nothing to do.
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