Deep Into the Thick of Summer

Summer at the halfway mark, and we are deep into the thick of it. Summer soccer (photo above) gives us a little bit of a routine– two steamy hot nights a week our little athletes rock the soccer field while us other three J-Ms cheer them on from the sidelines. It is just enough of a ‘schedule’ to keep us on our toes. The rest of the time — at least for the bambinos — is purposefully unstructured. And the desired effect has begun to take root: summer boredom has started to set in. This is a good thing. It gives them time to let their minds wander, gets their creative juices flowing, and allows them the space to soak up every little bit of summer.

I want summer to settle into their souls to sustain them for another big year. I see that year coming — I’m already scheduling fall piano lessons for Owen, a regular babysitter for Meera (her preschool program this year will only be three days a week), and I just ordered new Wrap-n-Mats for school lunch boxes — but I try to buffer them from that looming-start-date where we’ll begin-it-all-all-over-again. For now, my most important job is to keep them firmly in the grips of summer.

Bikes and scooters and sidewalk chalk are in full use in the driveway. Toys and games that have gone unused for months have been rediscovered. The basket that holds our bandaids and Neosporin is pulled off the shelf at least once a day.

When I’m at home during the day they pester me incessantly — and I do mean incessantly — and I repeat my mantra over and over and over, “Go play!” But every 5 minutes or so, one of them is there again, asking for yet another snack, begging to play with the iPad, tattle-taling on their sibling, and generally acting agitated and bored. They never dare say, “I’m bored,” but they sure come close, and they drive me absolutely to the brink of insanity until… finally…. they eventually settle in. It is hard to settle into summer — with its relatively very slow pace and its unscheduled days. But inevitably, just when I think I might truly lose my mind, sure enough they sink into it. Without my help they find something to engage in. And the result is deliriously good as I see them get lost in their own worlds, deep inside their imaginations, doing summer just beautifully.

A lot of it is like a summer haze in my mind’s eye. But there are moments of crystal clear clarity. Like watching them run across the yard chasing fireflies at dusk. In pajamas and bare feet, running to me to show off their fistfuls of fireflies in their grubby little hands.

And for Meera there seems to be a little extra time in the day to stretch out a bit. I can say ‘yes’ when she asks me to read a book to her at the kitchen counter while we wait for her omelet to cook.

This is summer at the halfway mark. Soon I’ll probably get desperate for the school year to start so we can get back into a “normal routine.” For now, I’m trying my best to sustain — and savor — the non-routine; to be truly in the summer moment (despite a million things on my mind); to make the most of this season; to give them summers that will be good building blocks in their foundations.