As we are about to embark on our second week of school, I though I should briefly comment on the first!

For the first time in my adult life, I feel like I actually “got” summer. Summer comes instinctively to kids. They know how to relax, kick back, revel, and be bored. We adults do not. We are too busy, too important, too bothered with life for things like….summer. Well, for the first time in years, I found myself relaxing into summer. Oh, it didn’t come easily. I struggled against it for a while. However, an illness at the onset of summer forced me into doing nothing. The recovery from that illness also found me having to do much more of nothing than I am comfortable with. However, I eventually found out something very important: I can relax, do nothing, and be bored, and nothing bad will happen to me. I mean it, people! The house didn’t fall apart because I couldn’t dust every week. The boys did not turn to dust because we could not afford camps and admission prices to various theme parks. The good-mother police did not arrest me for sitting on my behind one whole day to watch the entire “Thin Man” movie marathon on TCM.

For the first time since I was a kid, I found summer again, in all its lazy glory.

School started last week, and it was time to give up summer. It was hard to let go. The boys were thrilled to get back into our school routine. They eagerly awaited me in our schoolroom last week for our first day, while I gave a last longing glance at my stacks of books and the recliner.

However, begin we did. And it was good.

Now everything has started up, and as usual for our falls, we do not have a free weekend until sometime in November. That is good, too, but in an entirely different way that summer is good. Fall is full of school work, scout campouts, lesson plans, conferences, and classes. We need both: summer gives us the rest and relaxation that provides the energy for the fall, with just the right amount of boredom to make all those activities desirable. Fall gives us fun, adventure, and plenty of variety, and help us appreciate those quiet summer days.

It’s all good!