Summer is nearing an end. I can feel it in my heart; a tugging of pending separation from the footfalls and voices both happy and loud all around me. The warm weather will continue, but it won't be the same. Schedules replace late starts of Sponge Bob and Golden Grahams. Absence instead of scooters and bikes on the driveway. Planning and tasks rather than moments of observation and guidance.
School begins a week from today and I'm just not ready to say goodbye each morning. Our summer, which lacked any grand vacation trip (sometimes it's like that, you know), had plenty of highlights, but there were also many sweet, simple times at home: elaborate "set-ups" of building blocks, dollhouses, Playmobile, Littlest Pet Shops, and matchbox cars. Afternoons scouting thrift finds. Dinner tables of pesto, or salsa, and lettuce brought in from the garden. Evening walks with ice cream cones. What we had in the most abundance these last few months was time; relaxed time just being together. That is what I will love and treasure the most from this summer -- the summer of 2009.
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It will be the last page of my summer book.
