Good-bye summer! I’ll miss you!
Yes, it’s that time of year. Back to school. Or in this case, back to work. I work part-time at a middle school so when my kids go back to school that means I go back to work. I personally love my job, love my hours and love my special days off {aka, teachers institutes and holidays}. I also love getting a paycheck during the summer when I’m sitting in the pool soaking up the sun. What’s not to love about summer vacation?
I’ve realized that as my kids get older summer vacations are quite boring. They are all (almost) in their teens now and that means no one is up or out of bed before noon. There was a point in time where I seriously had to go and check on my child because I hadn’t seen him all day. He was sleeping! I checked with the doctor and apparently he’s hit a major growth spurt and those have a tendency to knock them out. Well, it did and I was scared there for a while, not even going to lie. That lasted about a good week or two and he was back to normal. During that time he grew a foot size from a 10 to an 11.5! And he must have grown a couple inches too because now he’s taller than me and he sounds like a man-boy. I was not prepared for his sudden jump into manhood!
Kids in their teens don’t like to do much. I pretty much have to beg, force and bribe them to go out with me. Granted it isn’t anywhere fun like a beach or hang gliding (NOT that I even know what hang gliding is like because you wouldn’t see me doing it but I’m imagining the kids would think it’s fun), but I just look for their companionship. It’s funny how when they get older you start to have a real interesting life discussions with them. We strip down to the basics and get real with each other. I love those chats the most.
The best thing that happened was sitting in our pool together. It was the only time that they didn’t have their phones or video games glued to their hands. It gave us all an opportunity to connect and reconnect and it was a lot of fun. We chatted about school, what they were each excited about, what they dreaded, what they wished would happen this year, what their goals are, what they see themselves doing in 5 years and on and on. Those are the moments of summer I’ll miss the most.
Now they’ve all been to the school to drop off their supplies, get their lockers organized and have learned their locker combinations and pretty soon the summer will be a thing of the past. We will be busy with curriculum nights, school meetings and conferences. We will be excited to go to the college nights, financial aid nights, and any other college related nights they host at the high school, all in preparation for the following school year.
I’ll be emotional as my oldest graduates and begins her life as an adult in the crazy world that we live in. I’ll be emotional as my youngest shares stories of her first day as a middle schooler and I’ll be emotional as my middle child prepares for his graduation and upcoming Freshman year. I’ll be an emotional mess to say the least. With all the excitement this school year holds for me, I know it will have it’s end in 9 months and then I can enjoy the pool and laughter once again.
What will you miss most about summer vacation?