I'm speaking more to myself here. Brian has just begun his last week of school for the year, and I am ridiculously excited about it. I must pause and gather my thoughts, because this is the only week of the year that I can look forward to almost two months (not quite with required staff days in August) together as a family with the overall busyness coming to a near standstill.
I personally am not all that busy. I am to a degree, yes, taking care of my baby and my home. There is ALWAYS work to be done, and never a single moment where I can say, "I have nothing to do." However, I'm not "busy" with out-of-the-house stuff. I like a simple life, and besides doctor's appointments, there's no commitments I have to be at such and such time and place.
Brian, however, is busy enough for the both of us. With his full-time job, part-time job, and the extras that come along with his full-time job, enough is enough. My sister even once said to me while I was explaining to her how many nights Brian had to be gone for something at his work (perhaps the school play), "I hate his job." It is so nice to get sympathy from my big sis.
Everyone seems to think school teachers have it made. Summer's off! Who doesn't want that? While that part is very nice, Brian works like a slave during the year, and sometimes I do wish he just worked a 9-5 job and was home for good and that was that. No nights. No weekends running to this band festival or that play rehearsal. (And for the record, many events in his school's county are very far from us, for example, one hour or more.) Many times I feel like a single parent.
I MISS my husband a lot. So this week, I am relishing the fact that we have a whole summer before us. Of course, it will go way too fast. We'll blink and tomorrow it will be September 1st. We'll scratch our heads and wonder where the days all went. But for TODAY, I get to soak up the wonder of this moment. Next Monday, Brian won't be running off to work. We'll wake up early (Caleb won't let us sleep in), but Brian will enjoy breakfast with us. We won't watch him leave wearing his dress shirt and tie. We'll enjoy some lazy mornings, and perhaps I'll even learn to relax a bit, since another person will be here to help me watch Caleb. (Only a bit, folks. Someone has got to keep the order here.)
We have a long "to-do" list. Endless house/cleaning projects need our attention. We want to work hard and take advantage of the time. However, we want to play hard, too. It is time for long walks with Caleb. Trips to the park. Ice cream outings. The long-awaited trip to the zoo. In August, we'll bring Caleb to the fair... the fair where Daddy paid for Mommy's entrance fee a few years ago- the first time he ever paid my way for anything. (It was not a date. We went with our friends and their three kids.)
Summer is before us, with so many things to look forward to. My birthday. Our anniversary. Perhaps we'll try to travel (oh, how I dread traveling with Caleb when he really has learned to sleep well in his crib). I feel like all of our longing and waiting has paid off. We get to be a family, a real family, for an entire summer.
May we not take A. Single. Moment. For. Granted.
