End of the year....

It isn't really the end of the year.  It is the end of the school year.

I am reminded of when I was a child and I had high hopes for a summer of accomplishment.  I used to sit and dream of all the books I would read, the good habits I would develop and nurture, the things I would do....
And then reality would set in.  Housework, occasional visits to the library, babysitting, daily boredom, or fun doing nothing in particular.  And then the week before school started a mad scramble to make good on at least a little of the earlier dreams.

There were a few really good summers.... The summer that we lived at Fr Devens.... I spent that summer volunteering in the library, covering the dust jackets of new books with the plastic that made them durable.  I was there four or five days a week.... I would walk or ride my bicycle there, and then afterwards I would go to noon mass at the chapel before walking home for lunch.  Afternoons were lazy affairs.  And then in July? I went to Oregon by myself and spent a month with my grandparents.

The summer that Mary was 2, Susanne and I went to Girl Scout camp for two weeks, came home for one week and then went to Oregon for a month to visit our grandparents, aunts and uncles.  That summer, I bought a great kite and enjoyed flying it at Washington Park in Portland, as well as on the beach.

The summer before college I spent as a nanny taking care of three small boys.  It was good practice for what is now my reality with one small boy although it was totally different.

The summer I worked for Dr Winchester on the summer conference on Quality..... It was an empowering experience and it changed me into someone willing to pursue graduate school.  I think it enabled me to tap into some of the latent potential that I had been carrying around.

Now.... I am facing a summer with a six year old.  I have high hopes - learning to swim, learning to ride a bicycle, reading for fun.....
Reality: Some of it will happen.  Life will get in the way.

Meanwhile, I am so very excited that I get my little boy back to hang out at home.  I hope we have a great summer and that we both have fun together.  These days are going much too quickly!