This post should probably be titled “The Only Ride of Summer”. Sean was good about taking the kids out for rides, but not me.
We did manage to sneak out during our last week of summer vacation for a nice little ride, though. I walked, they rode. And we all had a great time.
I tried so hard to soak up my children in the sun and the smiles and the summer breeze. (I told them to show me their grumpy faces in that picture. Lu looks hilarious, Erik looks the most realistic, and Djeryd and Anna obviously were not following instructions.)
There is something about the end of summer vacation that marks the passing of time much more poignantly than the last day of school. Everything has to change in September – grades, schedules, expectations.
Djeryd will only be with us five more summers, maybe four. And there’s only one or two left that will be foot-loose and fancy-free for him, before summer jobs become an expectation and a necessity. Then everything really changes.
I think the reason why childhood feels so fleeting with our children is because we remember our own childhood and, try as we may, we can never have it back. Now I am perfectly happy being an adult, but I think that realization makes us see that we will never have these moments back with our children.
I know it is silly to think about this kind of thing too much. But I think the occasional reflection helps me to cherish my time as a mother with children at home. I remind myself I love it. I remind myself this is the life I chose and that I should really try to enjoy every minute – even the frustrating ones. I just don’t want to get to the end of this road and be filled with regrets for missing the real “stuff” of my life because I was distracted or angry or just plain tired from staying up too late, too often, for no good reason.
Because time marches on. It waits for no one – not even moms.
