Normally, by this point in August I would be totally ready to send my kiddos back to school. In fact, by mid-July, I'm usually googling "boarding schools" and "military schools". And, depending on the amount of whining and/or drama from DQ, quite possibly "convent school". With the search including "overseas".
But, this summer, things were completely different. I don't know if it had to do with the fact that this is one of the last summers where I can convince myself that my little Drama Queen is still a little girl (even though she's 5'3" tall...) or that the WMB can still fit comfortably in my lap, but I really wish this summer would never end.
We've ridden bikes, and eaten snow cones, and climbed trees, and made forts. Both kids learned how to roller blade, and the WMB is becoming quite the little river otter thanks to swim lessons from one of my close friends.
We've gone to museums, and caught fireflies (and learned how to "talk" to them!), and made s'mores. The kiddos are old enough to ride their bikes, on their own, to their friends' houses, and will spend hours with their buddies playing in the woods or at the park.
And, this summer, I realized their time (especially DQ's) playing in childhood is fading away. One day, they won't want to go to the park and play or climb trees. One day, they won't want to go on a bike ride with MacGyver and me to the snow cone stand. One day, they'll tell me "I forgot how to play." Way too soon, play time will be gone and the tween-teen eye rolling and deep sighs will start, and my children will disappear from childhood and enter the growing-away portion of their lives.
So, this summer I made a bucket list. It was a very pretty, colorful bucket list, downloaded from the website of a much more creative and computer literate mother. In the 20 spaces allotted on the bright graphic sand bucket, I began to write down all the fun things we'd do together this summer. Things like "camp in the back yard" and "go to Brownie's Beach to hunt for fossils." I wrote "visit the National Building Museum to make a Lego masterpiece" and "go zip-lining at Tuckahoe State Park."
You see--I grand plans! I was going to make this summer count! We were going to have fun, dammit!
And, now, three months later, I have exactly two things marked off that list.
TWO
There were no trips to Dinosaur Park or Longwood Gardens (are you kidding! Have you seen the prices??!!)
Never made it to the Enchanted Woods at Winterthur or the butterfly exhibit at Brookside Gardens. Forget completing the ParkQuest. We never even started it, even though I camped out at our computer, counting down the minutes until the website opened and the limited number of passports disappeared in 15 minutes...
However, if I looked a bit "outside the box", I should have written down some other adventures on our summer bucket list. The types of things that may have been less "educational", but were apparently a hoot to the kids.
Like "break dishwasher, preferably with a load of three-day-old crusty dishes that smell like decaying zombie brains". Or, "blow up oven while cleaning it, sending a giant spark and a plume of smoke up the backside while simultaneously shorting out several connections that melt metal-to-metal." (Yep, that one was especially fun. And, educational. Did you know I've been living with a short in my oven that could have burned my house down for the last 5 1/2 years? Nor did I!) At least that experience meant Squisito's pizza and Chik Filet, which was icing on their cupcake of smoke and watching Mommy panic and wonder if we should call 911.
I think the kids' favorite adventure was when I was vacuuming the bathrooms of all their bits of paper and trash, and the entire bottom of the vacuum fell off. They were thrilled beyond belief that this meant I couldn't vacuum their rooms or the play room for the foreseeable future! Hooray!!! This started the next adventure of "how much fairy dust, aka glitter, can we spread around the house before Mommy loses her damn mind!!!"
There is still glitter and sequins under the couch. In the pantry. In the closets. On poor, long-suffering MacGyver's boxers. Once, DQ sneezed and glitter came out. I kid you not. It was glitter-palooza around here.
When, oh when, will I ever learn that childhood is not something that can be scheduled? Or put on a list. Even if that list is cute and colorful.
If I was to write another summer bucket list (which I won't), it should have had things like "stay in pajamas all day" and "build enormous fort with all the blankets and sheets in the house." We've certainly done those things. In fact, the fort is still up in the dining room, and the munchkins have been playing a complicated game of "bears" in it for over a week. Don't know the rules of the game, or even why they called it "bears", but if it gives me time to catch up on the Real Housewives and Interior Therapy, I don't much care. Viva la fort!
All this comes around to the fact that my family is really, really not ready for school. School means the fort will be taken down to make room for homework. Long mornings and afternoons playing with their friends in the woods or biking around the community will be replaced with rushing around to get ready for the bus and no one around to play with on the weekends because of soccer games and gymnastics practice. Adventures will be relegated to the weekends, if they happen much at all. I mean, have you seen how crowded the Science Center or Mt. Vernon is on the weekends? No thank you.
So, to the other parents who are counting down the hours and minutes until their sweet bunnies get on the bus, I'm sorry but I can't join your enthusiasm this year. This is DQ's last year of elementary school, and middle school looms on the horizon. The WMB has just gotten back into firetrucks and ambulances, and I don't want that to go away and be replaced with Pokemon or Ninjago. I want them to be up a tree, not at a desk, for just a little bit longer. I want them to be "little" for as long as possible... So summer, please last a little longer. We're still having too much fun!
No comments:
Post a Comment