That Was the Summer

My big kids start school on Monday, marking the end of our summer break. As a parent, I am constantly wondering if my kids’ childhoods are ones they will reflect back on fondly. I hope I am enabling them to paint a backdrop of core memories that celebrate their creativity, brilliance, and hunger for learning. The day to day can feel so grueling - the meals and the clean up and the getting shoes on and the putting laundry away and the “where are your goggles” and the “I already answered that question 3x.” Will they remember my begging and pleading to clean up? Will they remember how I lost my patience and found myself apologizing, again, for snapping at them? Will they remember the whole of our summer?

I imagine us, as a family, years from now…maybe 2034…reflecting back to this moment, to this summer, and us recalling:

Summer 2024.

That was the summer that Oliver learned to swim. He dreaded the lessons - was angry, even that I signed him up. I assured him Violet would be by his side, taking the same lessons in the same group, and I ushered them along - swimsuits, towel, goggles…and he jumped right in. Literally. And that summer was the first summer he could safely swim in the deep end. What an accomplishment. Not only that…that was the summer I fell in love with watching him swim. How his long legs seemed to effortlessly glide behind him atop the water.