THE ANTICIPATION OF SUMMER

So we're coming to the close of yet another school year; the temporary shutting off of 6:30 alarm clocks and 7 a.m. breakfasts consisting of Cheerios and threats.  Another Summer awaits.  Pools, beaches, backyard sprinklers, PB&J at the picnic table, and the slathering of #50 sunblock.  I can't wait!  I have a feeling I will be using those same three words come mid August regarding the start of the new school year, but for now, bring on the lazy Summer days!

Actually, I'm not sure how lazy they'll be initially.  Both Leo and Cathy are on our pool club's swim team (GO TARNSFIELD TORPEDOES!) and Leo is trying out for both travel soccer and tournament little league baseball.  I don't think he'll do both, I think he just wants to secure a backup plan!  I won't be devastated if he doesn't do either one, but I think he's really hoping to get on the soccer team as "Baseball's boring.  That's why I dance and jump around out in left-center; I have to entertain myself 'til the ball comes!"  Aaaaanyway...

So with lots of vacations planned (both mini and maxi), sports to play (both organized and not-so organized), sunblock to apply, and water to be swum in, I'm thinking the Summer will go by pretty quickly.  I know it will go by more quickly than last year as I've noticed the older and more independent the kids get, the faster the Summer goes.  Probably because I don't have to have every moment filled with some sort of entertainment.  Both my kids love to read and pretend play and color and draw and swing on the swing and splash in the sprinkler and play wiffle ball together that most times, if they permit me, I can sit on the patio and read and call it "watching the kids".  As long as I don't mind the occasional interruption for a drink or a Band-Aid or a quick tattle, they usually grant me the time.  And now that we've joined a swim club, though I can't read while they're swimming (sorry life guard, it's not that I don't trust you I just don't trust you!) I can chat with fellow moms and enjoy watching them play in the pool.  Sweet.

I wish there were a way, without costing anyone anything (always have to add that just in case someone tries to come up with a way), at least one parent could stay home all Summer with their kids.  I mean, only if they wanted to, of course!  I know a few parents who like daycare just fine!  But for those who would like to be home, I wish it were possible.  Back in my working days, when Gene and I were planning a family, the thought of not working never entered my mind.  I just figured I'd find a home daycare provider and that would be that.  And had I not been lucky enough to stay home as I have since before Leo was born, that's exactly what I would have done; like it or not.  

And I feel I am lucky too.  I watched a talk show years ago where stay-at-home moms and working moms were debating (or screaming at one another) over who worked harder and who had the shorter end of the stick.  I honestly can't remember which role I had at the time but I remember thinking number one, how ridiculous they sounded shouting at one another but more importantly that neither one really understood what the other was trying to say.  I get it; you spend a lot of time and hard work getting an education, breaking into and cultivating a career that to give it up, even for a few years, can't be part of the plan.  It doesn't mean you love your children less.  I get too, that once you had that child in your arms, you realized there was no way anyone was going to raise that child or see his first steps or hear his first words before you.  It doesn't mean you've lost your desire to be successful at your chosen career or that you're using motherhood as an excuse to stop working.  I think if a woman could leave her career for a long period of time to find it waiting there when she returned, lots more mothers would absolutely stay home with their family.  My sister-in-law, a lawyer, was lucky enough (and good enough a lawyer) to take off almost a whole year when her daughter was born.  Then, to further their good fortune, my brother was willing and able to reverse the traditional role of care-giver and become a stay-at-home dad.  I know that both my niece and her parents are eternally grateful for their time spent together.

But that doesn't happen very often at all.  So I am going to take whatever time Good Fortune allows me and spend it as a Domestic Goddess fretting over dinner menus and laundry piles; paying bills and nursing boo-boos and hurt feelings and enjoy every second!

.....'til mid August anyway!

Happy Summer everyone!!

~Eileen Cassidy Bishop