Summertime. Bare feet. Shorts and a t-shirt. No socks for the kids. Picking grape tomatoes out of the garden, and eating them, all warm from the sun. Floating in the pool. Sitting in the sun to dry off. Wandering out to the deck in the morning and drinking my first cup of coffee, which is always the best cup of coffee. The spontaneous beach trips, getting stacks of books from the library. Passing out popsicles to kids in the pool. The late late nights, and sleeping in until 8 or 9. Sunshine and wild flowers. Being able to sit in the grass. Rasberries.
Of course I am a grown up, so my life isn't just sunshine and puppydogs. We have broken pool filter. The contents of the sand filter have blown into the pool, little by little, making it impossible to get the pool water clear. It's a lovely shade of light green, but I have put 30 pounds of shock into it, little by little here and there, so it's still okay to swim in. There is chlorine in it too. The water is warm and relaxing, and still tons of fun for the kids, even the older girls. We are planning to fix the filter when swimming season is over in the fall, rather than have it not in use at all right now.
I was gone too much this past weekend, too. I worked the baseball game on Friday. The younger kids were in good hands with their sisters, but I miss them, and all the things we could be doing, when I work baseball. Paul and I, Emily and Abigail, Samuel, Kathryn all worked.
Saturday was Sam's last day at home. I went to the grocery store with Abigail in the morning and got a few special things for Sam, namely Heater Cakes, the names the kids gave those frozen Pepperidge Farms cakes, because apparently the frosting on top looks like a heat register to them. Sam loves the vanilla with the vanilla frosting and coconut. So does Mom, but I only licked off the knife. Don't worry, it was a butter knife.
Saturday afternoon I helped Paul pick beans from the garden. We also picked yellow squash and beets and tomatoes, and ate lots of all of it for dinner, along with chicken and hot sausage.
I made a double batch of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies for Sam. He had some friends over in the evening, and between them and my kids, most got eaten, except for the dozen I packed up for Sam to take back to the Army with him. I put them in a container and right in his backpack.
Samuel and KathrynHe left early this morning before the sun came up. Joseph drove him to the airport, because I had to work the baseball game again and didn't want to be exhausted. I said my goodbyes last night before bed, and it was sad enough. Sam is not terribly far away, but he is still away, and I miss him.
He is just so nice to have around. He would get up in the morning and putter around, he would maybe sweep the floors or put away clean dishes and wash up some dirty ones. He would take his sisters on spontaneous outings, he would sit with me and drink coffee and tell me about Army life. He is still the same boy, still tender and kind, wickedly funny, yet he is so grown up! This is a boy who didn't even want to order his own McChicken a few months back, and now he is buying his own plane tickets and heading to a base he had never been to, all by his lonesome. (he was rather surprised it cost fifty dollars to take a taxi from the airport to the base:))
Anyway. Sam is gone now, his leave is over. He said he was going to miss the dogs the most, followed by the yard. Our yard in summertime is wonderful. It's not wonderful by the standards of this world, it's not landscaped or weedeated. There are too many cars in our driveway, and usually someone has to also park across the front along the road, and there are always bikes in the grass. There are a few kayaks next to the house, and those nice little solar lights I insist on putting in along the sidewalk get pulled out when the yard is mowed, and not put back. I forget to put the grill cover back on when I'm done grilling, because the grill is too hot, so I'll do it later. The hose is sprawled out where ever it was used last, we don't have one of those nice little hose-roller things, but our hose wouldn't fit on it anyway. We hook like four of them together to reach the way back garden. If you wander to the back yard, the hot tub is just lovely, sitting there with some of the panels off, from the troubleshooting a few years back that never resulted in it getting fixed. I am still hopeful, but my brother who was supposed to fix it has hurt his back....
Anyway. Our yard has a pear tree and some maples, and a huge birch with a climbing rope. We still have a swingset with a slide, and only two swings and a glider, but usually only two little girls want to swing anyway. We do still have a baby swing, but no babies swing in it anymore.
Sam will miss us though. He will take some time to adjust to being there in a different place, but I am totally proud of him for going outside of his comfort zone. He says things are extremely disciplined there. No weeds and wildflowers I bet. He will be drilled and taught and reprimanded, until they make a smooth, robotic, soldier out of him. He will still do infantry training, after all, they protect the nation's capital.
Oh yeah. I love my handsome husband. Please keep him in your prayers. He has always been strong and energetic, able to take on multiple tasks, and take up lots of slack in our church, and at home. Lately, he has been tired. He has A-fib, which is being treated at the moment with medication, which shouldn't be making him tired, but the actual A-Fib might be making him a bit worn out. He just hasn't bounced back from his last trip to France yet. He wouldn't like me writing about him, but I can't just write this blog and pretend everything is all sunshine and happy when I am deeply concerned about him. I know he will be okay after a bit, he is going to have some sort of ablation or procedure done on his heart soon, but in the mean time, it is hard for me to see him tired. It makes me realize how much I love him. It also makes me see how much faith I put in him, and how much I lean on him. But God knows the beginning AND end of all things, He already has things planned for our best. Illness and weakness are scary things, but it is all weighed and measured! We are truly being tested, and when we look at it that way, it is easy to come into rest that He causes all things for our good. It still isn't easy to see my handsome husband all worn out and feeling blah though.
Busy days are coming, my blissful days at home numbered. Summer conference at church is in a few weeks, and the planning and shopping and packing that it involves is quite overwhelming. We stay in our camper, which has to be visited and cleaned out. The day after the conference ends, we are heading up to the mountains to camp for four days, which is a whole 'nother thing to pack for....all of us in tents! phew. I know it will be fun, but. I just hope Paul has a nice relaxing time, and that I can pull it together like Supermom.
Tomorrow is supposed to be a rainy day, perhaps a trip to the library will do us good. Camille, that little rascal, can read at a fifth grade level, and is only six and a half years old.
I am tired, it has been a long day. Paul stayed with the kids today while I worked the baseball game. I didn't want to work a second one in one weekend, but lots of people were on vacation, so I did. It's not bad, I actually enjoy being at the stadium, but by the time I get home, my knees hurt and my legs ache and I am not ready to make dinner. Today I took a nice swim when I got home, and couldn't have cared less what color that water was in the pool.
Ah well, it's bed time....
1 comment:
I love reading about how much you love your husband. It is not something that is "popular" today, loving ones husband and leaning on him. That's not readily accepted in today's feminist culture. Thank you for writing your blog.
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