One day, this will be called a great summer

My kids don’t realize it now, but when they’re all grown up, I think they’re going to look back at this summer and recognize it as a really great summer.

This summer, I began a new job. That meant paycheck transitions, a lack of saved up leave, and that wasn’t even counting the random acts of (bad) luck. The flooded kitchen and the month of flooring/no flooring. The horrible hail storm that ravished our just blooming garden. So we didn’t get to go on a vacation this year, which is sadly nothing new. We’ve only been on vacations four or five times, and at least two of those were with family. We didn’t go anywhere, we didn’t do anything. By definition, many would call that a meh vacation.

Sprinkler Rainbow
Sprinkler Rainbow (Photo credit: Pictoscribe)

But I started a new job this summer, and that means working from home all week. Thanks to the time difference between my office and Virginia, that also means that most mornings, into early early afternoon even, I’m available to do things with them. The pool in the morning. The library. We’ve even caught a summer matinee of the Lego movie. We’ve been to minigolf. MINI. GOLF. We’ve eaten dinner together every night (or thereabouts) since I got back from San Francisco. We have been a family this summer.

Right now, they don’t realize it as anything special. It is just the way life is. But I know one day, in about twenty years, they are going to look back and smile at this summer. This summer we celebrated being a family. And I expect they’ll smile nostalgic. I know I am.