Summertime, when the livin' is easy

This school year, unarguably, was one of the longest and most painful the girls and I have ever endured. Looking back on it, we can't really figure out why. I mean, it was largely the same as every other school year we've had. But it was a long one. And the winter was just abysmal. And, as high school students, they're doing work that's harder and takes more time and is just more involved than it was back when they were just little things, of course. So why, we don't know. We're just glad it's over. And to that end, when school let out, we fled to the pool as if wild dogs were snapping and snarling at our heels.

So that's where we've been: poolside. At first, we sat straight up on our lounge chairs, our eyes glazed and looking straight ahead in fixed stares, murmuring through stiff lips "Snow. The snow. The snowthesnowthesnowthesnow. THE ICE! THE ICE AND THE SNOW!"

Then we progressed to being able to lean back, although our limbs were all still rigid.

Then, as the sun began to warm our skin and our muscles and our weary bones, we relaxed. And we've been lugging in our favorite cooler stuffed with apples and peaches and popsicles and water bottles and diet soda and turkey sandwiches and those handy little one-hundred calorie snack packs. And we've been staying for hours, lathering ourselves with sunscreen and swimming laps and reading our library books and deploring -- DEPLORING! -- the hideous country music station that someone in the swim club's main office has decided would make a nice change from the "oldies" station (meaning "the music I listened to in high school") we'd all previously been enjoying.

We've been relaxing. Vacationing. Recovering.

You should see my tan.

Almost here.....

The swim club opens this weekend. I'm so thrilled because it has been a long, long spring and an even longer winter and I wonder if anyone would think me odd if I fell to the decking, kissing it and weeping. Actually, on second thought, there might be a whole lot of people doing that very thing.

A new kind of drinking game

In all this stifling weather we're experiencing, I'd like to propose a new kind of drinking game, different than the ones that SOME PEOPLE played as undergraduates, where they took a swig of some beverage every time Oprah says the word "feel" or "feelings" or every time a favorite sports team scores a touchdown or a three point shot or whatever. I have heard of those kinds of activities, but never participated in them myself because I was always way too busy praying or taking baskets of food to the poor.

Anyway, my proposal is that every time we hear someone say the words "heat," "humidity," or "hot," we all have to drink a bottle of water. That way, we'll all stay very hydrated and all the people my age won't dry up like mummies and have that crinkly, dessicated look that a piece of bologna gets if someone carelessly re-wraps the package and leaves a slice of the lunch meat exposed to air.

Plus, I am anxiously looking forward to colder weather, when we can all play a game where we all have to pull on our Snuggies and curl up on the couch with a good book and a cup of hot chocolate every time we hear the words/phrases "snow," "wind chill," "cold front," "sleet," "slush," "icy rain," "winter storm watch," "school cancellations," "salt trucks".....if you can think of any other words to add to this list, please send them to me as I am interested in perfecting this game and look deeply forward to playing it this coming winter.

The summery nature of June, July and August

I usually write about four or five blog posts per week, because this blog is primarily a record of our lives -- I know! It really is mesmerizing, isn't it? -- and how will there be any record if I never write anything? This is easy in the winter, although I admit that the subject matter can be strained: Monday -- very cold, with a chance of more coldness later; Tuesday -- somewhere beyond cold, so I'm turning the thermostat up; Wednesday -- So frikking cold, even a belt of Kahlua in my hot chocolate can't even cheer me...you get the idea.



But in summer, it's hard to write because of what you see in that picture: the swim club. I took that shot from my seat on a bench on which I have a comfy non-inflatable mattress that can also double as a pool float, two large beach towels, a little flat-topped cooler that holds cans of Diet Coke and doubles as a side table and a bag full of sunscreen, books, books and other books, all of which I'm reading simultaneously as the mood takes me. With a generous basting with SPF30, my huge sunglasses and the Mom Hat, I'm ready to spend the afternoon in complete bliss.



Which we have been doing, which is why I've missed an entire week of writing, except for today. The sky outside is grey and lowering and a familiar pain across my face tells me that I'd better take some ibuprofen right now or I'll regret it sooner rather than later. Whooops....there's some thunder right now. No pool today, so maybe I should write about ten blog posts instead? Hmm...