Smiling at summer

Summer is coming. It's almost here.

For the first time in many, many years, I am not dreading the end of the school year, and am looking forward to a more relaxed schedule for a couple of months. The kids will be busy for about 6 weeks with various camps and activities, and they start soon, so that's probably why I'm feeling so calm. There won't be the usual 3-week hiatus between the end of school and the start of camp.

I'm also looking forward to teaching on my summer schedule (although I wouldn't mind if a few more people signed up for summer lessons!) Teaching one day a week will be a nice break, after the 4-day schedule I keep during the school year. Aaaahhh.

I have some projects to do, chief among them, to open up the porch. This is the latest in the year we've ever gone without having our screen porch open, and I miss it. The family schedule has been packed with non-stop end-of-the-year activities, and when I have found myself with time to work on the porch, the weather has been bad. I'll do it this weekend, for sure, if not before. I need my morning coffee with the birds.

Abby is having her usual end-of-the-school-year anxiety (EOTSYA), which is making things hard for her, and, consequently, for us. Her teachers are on top of it at school, and we're managing at home, for the most part. She is very much looking forward to picking out a new fish with Earl later this week, to replace the beloved Blueberry, who swam into the great beyond a few weeks ago.

Brian is all about moving up to first grade, and is also enjoying the fun and festive end-of-year events for kindergarten. Timmy will be out of school on Thursday, and for the first time in five years, we won't have any children enrolling in preschool for the fall. He's wearing his yellow "I'm going to kindergarten" shirt every chance he gets.

I'm enjoying my last couple of quiet mornings for a few weeks, but am not panicking. As many people have told me, but I didn't believe it until I started to see it: things really do get easier as the kids get older.

Until they get too old and end up being teenagers, people also tell me. But enough of that. I'll just take it one step, one year, one summer at a time.