One of Those Days

It’s summer, and that means the boys are off school for eight glorious laborious weeks. Every year come June, I have wonderful, educational, motivational plans for these weeks.  Workbooks to keep minds fresh, activities to cultivate creativity, book lists printed, and this year, a great big calendar to keep everyone informed about the daily and weekly schedule.  We deliberately did not schedule any camps for the boys this year, having idealized an old-fashioned summer with freedom to roam and explore and just be KIDS!  And no rushing through dinner to get to activities!

Ahhhh, the crash back down to earth once reality hits!!  The workbooks sit unopened, lists are lost, and screens are all too often the default solution to a Mom in life-management mode.  And guilt settles in like an inconvenient house guest.  I am a better mom than this.  My kids are smarter than this.  We are not that family.

And so the days go on, with varying degrees of success.

But every once in a while, we get one of those days.  The kind of day that you want to forever burn into your memory; engrave on your heart.  I can hardly put into words how one of those days feels, because it is such an intangible gift.  The kind of day where the air is warm but not stifling because there is that little sweet breeze that lazily wafts in at just the right time.  The kind of day where you fill up the wading pool and you find it at just the perfect temperature at just the right time.  The grass is freshly mowed and the sky is blue and the marshmallow clouds never grow any bigger or cast shadows on your little piece of earth.  The kind of day where no one complains that we are taking a day off of tech, where sweet friends share your space, and laughter rings out freely because let’s face it – kids are funny and awesome and there is so much life in them!  And no one complains when the tummies rumble and the big meal becomes scrambled eggs because who wants to cook when you’re having one of those days?  The sun dips low and the little clouds turn pink, and the big kids toss a football while the little ones share a giggle inside.

Today was one of those.