Well, friends, here we are. Smack dab in the middle of August. Everywhere we turn, the cries of “Where did summer go?” echo in our ears. Folks are taking off for final vacations and squeezing the last bit of fun from summer, much like squirting that last dab of sunscreen from the tube. Moms are scurrying through the aisles of Target, scrounging for a pack of skinny black Expo dry erase markers. (Amateurs! You gotta Amazon Prime those babies.)
Summer 2018 will undoubtedly be remembered as the summer of Fortnite and flossing. Sigh. But it was more than that. For us, it was baseball. Swimming. Ice cream. Waterskiing. Monkey bars. Sunsets. Boating. Botanical gardens. A new puppy. Karate camp and s’mores and get-togethers. I didn’t do all the things I hoped to do, of course. My summer bucket list wasn’t fully realized. And my giant garden didn’t exactly take off, either. Oh well. I tried, right? And we will salvage some fall veggies. Or if you want some zucchini right now, I have about 5000 to spare. But you have probably been offered over-abundant zucchini at least 10 times already this week. What is it with those things?
My failures aside, summer can be magical. But let’s not get too precious about it. After all, mosquitos. And summer can be a lot of pressure, especially when you live in place known for its brutal winters. There is immense pressure to pack in the fun, especially as you can see everyone else is doing so if you just scroll through your Facebook feed. Plus there is the pressure to handle the additional logistics that come with the school break. Like cobbling together a child care schedule with a hodge-podge of providers. Or serving as a 24-7 taxi service.
So let’s be grateful for August. It can serve as a needed wake-up call to enjoy the remainder of our summer. To savor the moments with our sweet babies. But then. There are other days. On those days, when the kids are at each other’s throats and I am at my wit’s end, August is a welcome reminder that this, too, shall pass. Thank the heavens above.
August goes by many names. The dog days of summer. The dregs of summer. Recently, I have been seeing August characterized as the “Sunday of Summer.” Sounds about right. Those folks hitting the lake and splashing their photos all over Instagram would say August is like a month-long Sunday Funday. And the harried souls trying to schedule kids’ haircuts while filling out endless school registration forms would probably tell you that August feels like a really long case of Sunday night jitters. Our family falls somewhere in between.
We are more of a “Slow Down Sunday family” than a “Sunday Funday family.” Slowing down is always a good thing, in my book. Our family typically uses Sunday as a buffer between the weekend and the new week. We still like to have fun on Sunday, but we do so a little more quietly. We recharge and prepare for the week, and we enjoy family time. This often looks like a movie on the back porch or an intense game of Connect Four.
So, for us, August is a time to reflect on the summer fun we have had. It’s a time to sneak off to the beach one more time, but also to look forward to what’s next. Because what’s next is pretty awesome. It’s fresh notebooks and new beginnings. Clean backpacks and sharpened pencils. Unopened boxes of crayons and unsullied school shoes. (Sorry, I’ve always gotten a little excited about back-to-school shopping. 🙂 ) The excitement of a brand-new school year. A blank slate. A chance to do things up right. Our kids get that chance, but there’s no reason we can’t seize it, too. We can resolve to say that the rest of 2018 is going to be amazing.
I am already looking forward to apple-picking, Dan’s homemade chili and cardigan sweaters. And you are nuts if you think there is anyplace prettier than Wisconsin in autumn. Wisconsin is the king of fall. Its winters may drag on in gray bleakness. Its springs are soggy and unsatisfying, when they bother to show up at all. But fall. Wisconsin knows how to do fall.
Plus, fall in Wisconsin brings Packers football. (Go Pack!) So really, the only thing that can ruin a Wisconsin autumn is the looming specter of a Wisconsin winter.
Now sure, I may have a hard time falling asleep the night before school starts, for fear of having forgotten to fill out a registration form or purchase a blue pocket folder. But the blow will be softened by the moms’ support group that will convene at everyone’s favorite local establishment for Bloody Mary’s after dropping the kids off at school. Yes, truly. Is that even a real thing? Or just a Winneconne thing? I am thinking the latter. Regardless, I need to find out more. I feel I have an obligation to find out more. So I will have to check it out. Don’t worry, I will report back!
