That Kind of Summer

Usually my summers are fun and busy. There's summer school in the morning and cleaning and playing with friends in the afternoon. And I'm in charge. I run the summer. If someone wants to play video games and he hasn't practiced his piano, sorry, that's not happening. Or if a friend shows up during summer school, they are summarily sent away and informed when they can return.

This summer was different. It ran me. And I found myself saying things like, sure your friend can come and play, when I knew my child still had chores to do. And there was no such thing as summer school and I've dropped nearly every ball that I usually juggle.

And moms have gotten mad at me because I lost their phone number and informed them via email that my child couldn't play and then maybe the mother called me 7 times and left 5 messages, then when I finally got her call and explained the problem and apologized profusely--she got snippy with me. And rightfully so. I dropped the ball. Again. Plus she was out three bucks for the activity my child didn't come to. And no one came to, because I dropped the ball.

My house is a wreck and I've cooked exactly 2 bon a fide-from-scratch-good-to-eat-meals this summer. (And one of those was tonight.) I have learned which two babysitters also clean my house (I'm sending love and kisses your way). And I've learned that my 11-year-old daughter is more reliable than most of my adult relatives at getting the kids in bed on time. I've also learned that she knows how to change diapers and that I can leave her in charge for up to 3 hours, as long as we're home by 9:30pm-ish.

The only upside to this kind of summer, is that my children will have absolutely no expectations for next summer.