Watermelon

Our kids have been obsessed with watermelon this summer. We've bought one practically every week started  July 1st. Lately it feels like each weekly watermelon may be the last. We've spent many evenings sitting on the front steps,  big juicy slices in hand, letting the juice drip down our chins. Watermelon, ripe juicy peaches, popsicles, ice cream...its like summer is made for sweet drippy yumminess. And we've been taking big bites, ignoring the mess and the heat.

Even I've been digging in. Despite my tendency to want to eat my watermelon in small neat cubes with a fork, I decided the last few weeks to just dive into summer.  We're in vacation mode. I'm trying so hard, and sometimes succeeding, at turning off that constant clock in my head.

We've had lots of late nights. City adventures. "Dinner" consisting of  bars found in the bottom of bags, street-vendor soft pretzels, and ice cream.   Last week we had the amusement park field trip, a library trip, picnic in the park, and a splash park. This week L and I went to one park while G & B ended up at city hall with happy hour (for him) and a water sculpture/splash play (for B). L was jealous so we went back last night, and G & I had drinks while the boys ran through the fountain, split a huge sandwich, and ran around some more until the sun came down (so early! its happening already...). Then we went home & ate ice cream.

I loved this post, about a different kind of summer. I feel like we are on the cusp of this. Things are just a tiny bit easier. I see the possibility of the next few years ahead of us and simultaneously see the loss coming soon after.

The kids have a 4 day weekend. G & the boys are on some adventures right now, while I'm at work. Tomorrow we take an overnight trip to TheBigCity. We're taking a bus there late-morning, staying with G's cousins, and bus back Sunday evening. I don't want to worry about time, money, or food while we're there. I want to enjoy our last days of summer, before we jump into B's kindergarden and my grand deadlines and the ever shorter and chillier days.

The berry season, the watermelon season, the summer of parenting...its all so short.