summer

I used to think that spring was the favorite, with all its new growth and cool breezes and exuberance. But now I know that it was just because it meant that the cold was gone, and it pointed to a time when everything slows down. A season that is more of a way of life than anything else…summer.

Summer is the favorite, no doubt about it.

It feels crazy now, in the midst of the “dog days” to say that I prefer it over all the other seasons, but I have my reasons. Here are a few of them:

1) Fruit. We have a little party in my house every year when we crack open our first watermelon. And we eat it constantly. Peaches, too. We adore peaches. All the fresh fruits and veggies (not grown by my own labor, let me tell you) just make me happy. I have a goal of having a garden one day…we tried a few years ago, and the squash took over the backyard, and the tomatoes just never did set up right, but one day I will learn. And won’t that be fabulous?

2) The leisurely pace. The school year feels like a rushed mess to me, most of the time. I love that we can sleep late in summer, have nice long breakfasts together, and that daddy is home for an entire month. We paint fingernails, we eat popsicles, we do lots of crafty stuff.

3) We get to play in water. Swimming is a big favorite around here. But we don’t have a pool, so it doesn’t happen as often as we’d like. But we do have a water hose, and a sprinkler, and that’s big fun. BIG fun.

4) Shoes are optional. I hardly wear shoes in the summer. The girls too. That’s gotten us into trouble a few times when we’ve gone out to the grocery, only to realize that one or the other of us have forgotten our shoes. Oh well…

5) Days that last forever. It’s hard as anything on the kids, with the sun coming up early, and setting late, but it’s so nice to have the sun around. I miss it in the winter.

But it’s almost August. I think in my heart, summer ends at the beginning of August, when daddy goes back to work, and the school supplies are bright & shiny on the shelves in the stores, and we have to work our way back into a routine so that early school mornings don’t make us all miserable. The countdown to back-to-school is about to start, and it makes my heart a little achy.

But I have a few more days of glorious summer, and I’m going to live it up while I can.