Before Summer's End

The end of summer always seems to come at me with the speed of a locomotive. Not the chugging speed of a steam engine but with the whirr of those magnetic track kind. I know it is coming and then whirr it's flown right by into the school year. Summer holds such promise of fun activities and vacations and lazily enjoying some personal endeavor. I intend to have the girl's friends over and do day trips and have the girl's stay mentally active and work on house projects, at the beginning of the summer and I usually stand on the train platform looking back kind of dissapointed when the train has passed, for the things not done.

This year though we are starting the school year and I am feeling peaceful about our summer. We all enjoyed it. We had a number of friends over, we took a vacation, we went to the zoo, there were some workbook pages done and educational conversations had. The girls went to camps and enjoyed new activities. They read books and played games. We spent days at the pool. Did we do all of the things I had put on our list? No. I think there is no disappointment in that because I am finally looking at that mental list as a list of options. We chose the best or most doable of the options and we were content to enjoy them. We also did much better with winging it and grabbing the moments we had.

One of those last minute things was a trip to the beach. The last Saturday before school started didn't have anything scheduled and the girls had asked way back in June to go to the beach so we grabbed the day. We headed down to Rohoboth beach and set up our gear among tons of other families. The big girls went right down to the ocean's edge while Jim and I settled in to our spot with Hanna and our stuff. It was a beautiful day, perfect for enjoying each other and the beach.

The big 3 girls took boogie boards out while Bridget was happy to stay leaping waves at a safe depth. I was so impressed with them in the water, because with every big knock down from a wave came an aware sister ready to help and plenty of actual outstretched hands. We shared lunch of PB&J, grapes and wheat thins on the beach and the girls all played in the sand. Hanna was a delight as she experienced the beach for the first time. We stayed for hours till everyone had their fill, then we got changed, and walked to dinner. Everyone was tired but after a yummy dinner were refreshed enough to walk the boardwalk to get a treat.

Happy and contented we headed back home, having enjoyed our summer and ready to start the new school year. The difference this year, as the summer end sped toward us, I think has been one of mindset. Our life is so good and when we focus to enjoy the moments, the whole is so much more appreciated.