One week into summer, and it is already easy to feel overwhelmed. To think that once upon a time I thought of this time as relaxing. I’m not sure what I was ever thinking!
Well, alright, I know what I was thinking. I was thinking I had no responsibilities, and having the summer off meant hanging out with my friends, lounging in my pajamas all day, and only doing what I wanted to do. If my summers were still like that, I might be much more relaxed.
1) Summer is in, my school is not out.
The children are out of school, but I am not. I received one week when there was a lapse between the class I had finished and the next one I needed to start, but I am back in with no breaks until Christmas. That is both the joy and the torture of the continuous program; I don’t need to take multiple classes at once, but I am always in school. Luckily my children are used to this, having watched Mama go to school for a few years now, and they are understanding of my need to complete homework.
2) A child’s lazy day and an adult lazy day are not the same.
If I were to have a lazy day, I would wake up early. It wouldn’t be on purpose, but mostly out of habit. I would drink my coffee slowly as I read a book or as I wrote on my own book. Eventually I would get dressed, and maybe take the dog for a walk or go for a jog of my own. I might spend a little time in front of my sewing machine, with a movie playing in the background. I wouldn’t have a schedule, or anything I needed to worry about, I would just do whatever sounded like a good idea at the time.
When my kids have a lazy day, they want to stay in their pajamas. Meals should consist of popcorn or ice cream, with maybe a pizza thrown in for their version of a healthy meal. They would pull out art supplies or toys, and not clean anything up. They would later go to bed, without showers and without cleaning anything in the house.
My lazy day is about having no schedule; their lazy day is about having no cleaning or healthy food.
3) Vacations are not relaxing for the one who is planning them.
In one week my family and I leave on a three day vacation to Edinburgh. Everyone else gets to be excited as they ask me, “So what are we doing when we get there?” I was looking forward to this much more before it became reality. Now I am just tired from a vacation that hasn’t even started.
4) Houses stay less clean when there are more people in them.
When my children were in school everyday, there was forty hours a week where it was just me and the dog. Most of the house wasn’t even used during that time, just my work area, the kitchen and occasionally the living room. Now, everyone is running through every room in the house.
I may not have a clean floor again until August.
5) I miss warm weather.
I lived in Okinawa Japan for eight years, a wonderfully hot and humid tropical island where you were never truly that far from a beach. While it is nice to have more relaxed weather, and I am thrilled to have the rain in my garden, I am ready for some summer heat. I want to be warm enough that I want to stand in front of a fan and never leave. I have always preferred to be hot rather than cold. It’s just my way.
Well, that is all for today, but please come back tomorrow when I join the blog tour, My Writing Process. I haven’t had a lot of opportunity to interact with other bloggers yet, but I am hoping to move forward to a new period. I’d like to get to know others better and branch out more. What better way to get to know people than by being willing to share who I am with you?
Reading Writing Creating 