Memorial

Memorial Day weekend feels like a taste of Summer. Long days that start a tad later than school schedules demand stretching into evenings extended by later sunsets hint at near endless possibilities. The swimming pools are open. Berries are in season. And we are unfettered by the have tos that so often define our days. Lovely.
The kids have already lost the first of many pool toys that will disappear over the course of the hottest months. The laundry loads have shifted from heavy sweaters to beach towels. The house looks like a dish-paper-shoe bomb went off. The t.v. yammers away with animated programming. The mister is alternating between sanding away imperfections and doing some patching on the master bath walls in preparation for the first coat of neutral paint in Mommy's Personal Spa Retreat. (Of course, now that there are not little fingers waggling beneath the door, we have a cat who will obligingly fill that void by slipping her paw under the door and shifting it back and forth. At least the furball doesn't ask what I am doing in there.) And I am enjoying a cup of coffee while cruising the net and absent-mindedly refereeing the children's more exciting discussions until I am needed to help paint.
By August the lackadaisical days of Summer will be gearing up in preparation for the First Day of School. I will be heartily sick of the kids while dreading the necessity of handing them over for the majority of their waking hours to professional educators. It will be too hot to genuinely enjoy the very outdoor activities that create a yearning for Summer. But for now, we are just entering the halcyon days of Summer Vacation with the endless possibilities of "What shall we do today?"