The kids are on summer vacation, and it turns out that I am too. They're gone more often than not any more. After breakfast, phone calls are made and they disappear out the door. Gone to play, swim, build forts, ride bikes, climb trees.
I stay at home, cleaning, writing, knitting, cooking, reading, cleaning. It's kind of nice, being at home alone. A girl could get used to this. Paul Simon keeps me company. He brings back such sweet memories: Being a young girl, listening to the Graceland album with my Grandpa. Being a teenage girl, sitting on a stainless steel counter in the bakery at Albertson's, watching the boy I hopelessly loved make doughnuts, listening to Bridge Over Troubled Water (and troubled water it was). Being the mother of a three year old girl who sang Cecelia on the karaoke machine on display at Costco. Good times, all of them.
I stay at home, finding ways to fill my time, waiting for the kids to come back home. It's new and strange and wonderful, this sense of freedom we're all experiencing. It feels a little bit like a foreshadowing. I'm glad we have years to get used to it.
I'm mostly there, too, and then again, not, since I have that four-year-old bundle of energy who is never very far from me. But the big kids are stretching their legs (both literally and figuratively), and more and more I feel like where I am may still be home base, but no longer their whole playing field.
ReplyDeleteAlso: love Anne Lamott.
Happy Summer...
ReplyDeleteand part of it is letting them go.... I am learning how to do that ~ let them ride their bikes a little further. Play in the cul-de-sac behind us a little longer. It is what being a kid is all about.
ReplyDeleteMy kids are the same way. Wake up, have breakfast and out the door. They can be gone for 4 hours and then head home with a bunch of the neighbors. I never quite know when I'll see them but I can usually hear their giggles and screams as they play with their friends. It is quite an adjustment-more for me than for the kids!
ReplyDeleteEeps, that gave me goose bumps. Oh my. Years --we have YEARS-- to get used to it, right?! And the vision of young you on the bakery counter at Albertson's... : )
ReplyDeleteAnd now I have to go teach Bea "Cecelia" because I just realized it's been MUCH too long since I sang that one as loud as possible. And while we do that we'll wait for the boy to come home from his day's adventure...
It's nice to have a bit of change when it come to summer routines. It sounds like your new routine is enjoyable! Here's to the beginning of summer!
ReplyDeletesounds like you're settling into a summer routine and it's a happy one!
ReplyDeleteI like your new posting format with test on the pictures. :)
ReplyDelete"The Blue Shoe?" I read it last summer.
ReplyDeleteI am jealous of your freedom. I have a few years yet until they all disappear. Soon soon.
In the meantime I'm loving what I've got. ;o)
well at least you have a good author, a good drink and a wee friend.
ReplyDeletefunny how we miss the general presence of them when they are gone.
rather bizarre.
I love Anne Lamott too! Do you know Paul Simon's "Still Crazy After All These Years" album? That was my first album ever. So good.
ReplyDeleteHow are you doing the cool writing on the digital photos? Software or scanning your photos after writing?
my mom always says the teenage years make it easier! i'm not sure what that says about me!!! :) but, i think she is onto something.
ReplyDelete~karen
Motherhood - that elixer of emotions, memories and sensations. So many transitions, so much that drips with the honey of bittersweet.
ReplyDeleteThis is interesting for me to read Molly. My children are very young but I can imagine how strange it must feel for them to be away from home with friends, leading their own social lives. It must feel both good and funny at the same time having that quiet time. I loved reading about your memories that include Paul Simon songs... your haiku paired with photo is fabulous and touching!
ReplyDeleteMy children are 14 and learning responsibility = freedom. How much freedom? How much responsibility? We are all learning to forge new paths. Last night they were both sleeping over at separate friends and my husband and I sat alone on our deck and contemplated this new phase.
ReplyDeleteWe're reading the same book!
ReplyDeleteMakes me feel wistful, reading about your kids' summer days. You must live in a wonderful neighborhood, where they can have all the archetypal summer memories!
ReplyDeleteI remember bolting out the door in the morning and leaving my mom home, but we liked she was there. We would make pit stops for popsicles. It's funny how we crave time alone & when we get it, we don't want it. Have a nice summer
ReplyDeleteoh, i am in such a different place right now : )
ReplyDeletesounds lovely though!
and oh, paul simon. at one point i would just cry when i listened to him. i ached to see him in concert. it made me sad to think of him getting *ahem* on in his years and not having that opportunity. but then it happened and it was as great as i had imagined. must listen to him tomorrow.
ReplyDelete