You’ve seen the blog posts recently with the moms jumping in the air, smiling ear to ear as their children stand in the background with their backpacks and lunch boxes looking all sad, right? The one where mom’s floating in a pool with a foofy drink with the sad kids behind her? The one flying away as fast as she can in her convertible from her school-bound kids?
I get it, it’s supposed to be funny... celebrating mom, bummed-out kids.
I guess I get it?
I dunno. As my kids enter 4th and 7th grade, I’ll be honest and say how much I’ll truly miss the very unstructured summer we just had. I’ll miss our trips to the pool where they finally mastered swimming. Our ice cream. Our hiking days. And hot dogs. What about the hot dogs? I know I can boil them inside, but if you know me or you know hot dogs, you know it’s not the same.
Staying up late, waking up late (not for me ― I was off to work) they slept in like teenagers, and I didn’t have a problem with it. I wish I could’ve joined them.
Don’t get me wrong — it’s not like my kids are some dreamboats who I want to be around all the time. They’re not. They get on my nerves and on each other’s. They drive me totally nuts. They’re human.
But guys... I’m not excited about packing lunches. Filling water bottles. Losing water bottles. Digging crumpled forms out of backpacks.
I’m not excited about homework... I’m really not. Maybe that pool-float mom can help her kids with the “new math” that I don’t understand while she drifts by, but I’m not that good at multitasking. I’m not excited about more laundry and making sure dinner is early enough to fit in a shower along with book time.
And good god, I’m not excited to start picking up socks again from every part of the house because bye bye flip flops and hello actual shoes. Oh, and shoving a salad in my face in my car outside an elementary school after work/before pick up? I’m super not excited about car salad.
I love you at this age where when I got home from work at 2:00 you had done your jobs, eaten your lunch, put your dishes away and were ready to go and do something fun with me (I’m talking most days ― like I said, they are human). We did fun stuff, and it didn’t have to be major. It was going to the grocery store to get more flour to bake more cookies. Going for long bike rides. Or picking up some friends and heading to the park — these kids had the steps on my Fitbit at record highs. Which was good. Because cookies.
I feel like my boys hung out more this summer, with each other... and with me. They got along better this summer. They worked together this summer. No wonder I’m not excited about that ending.
As we head into this first week of school, of course I’m looking forward to watching them learn. And grow. Seeing them with friends, getting back to after school activities and art club and basketball.
But I sure will miss our 2:30 hikes and our talks with ducks followed by Slurpees, because those were the best days.
Lori’s website, Drawn to the ’80s, is where her 5-year-old drew the hit music of the 1980’s. Her blog, Once Upon a Product, is where she writes about beauty products and her Mick Jagger obsession.