I'd swear that when I woke this morning the sun was in a different place. I don't know what it means but here I sit for the first time in months in an attempt to rid my head of the whole flotilla of blog posts that have built up. There's not enough room in one post for all that's here, but I have to start somewhere.
Time. It's never enough. I was sure that when summer came I would allow myself the opportunity of writing space in my week. It hasn't happened. It's not that we've been sitting around with nothing to fill our time on these not so lazy summer days. We've been quite busy enjoying the freedom that being a child, working in Education and Unemployment affords. As absurd as it is, we've enjoyed our time this summer more than any other in recent years. I have the comfort of knowing I will return to my job as "Librarian" at my elementary schools. The boys and their sister are kids and so the weight of the world and all it's disasters have no real effect on their mood. As it is, they're all pretty easy going people, mostly anyway. Dustin still struggles to find work locally but has that ever dependable unemployment check to look forward to.
My uncle sent my cousins to visit from Ireland. This was their first trip back to the States since they moved away all those years ago... family intact. As corny as it is to say, it made my heart happy to hug those two sweet kids and let them know I love them. July makes a year since my aunt, their mother, left all of us, especially them, trying to understand why she left. It's not so difficult as an adult to see the pain and conflict she lived with. It's not so easy as a child to see the same. Either way, we loved her while she was here, we love her while she is gone and we love love love those two wonderful little people she and my Uncle Sean created.
We based our trip to Southern California around when we could see my cousins. While we were down there we decided to actually have a vacation, not just sit at my mom's house. We took in two Dodger games which was heaven to my baseball obsessed husband and children, girl included. Taluelah still puts on her pink Dodger cap and asks if we can go to Dodger Stadium. I can't say that I minded going to the games either... it's been quite a few years since I caught more than one game in one season in Chavez Ravine.
My mom joined us at the first game we went to. The Dodgers played the Cubs and my mother and I couldn't help but note that it was odd to be sitting where we were, watching the teams we were, given the time of year it was. July 11th made 6 years since my dad passed away. He was from Chicago and would do his best to root against the Dodgers anytime they played the Cubbies. We sat very near the seats we used to sit in. It would have been nice to be sitting there with my dad again.
My only real request for our time in SoCal was a day at the beach. That blue expanse, the taste of salty air on my lips, the sting of the hot sand on my bare feet, the tug of the Pacific around my ankles, allowing myself to be overwhelmed by the nothingness of floating in water shared by so many creatures... that is when my soul finds a certain peace it lacks in everyday life. When it was time, I wasn't ready to leave. But then, I never am.
We made it home in time to spend 24 hours before we had to be packed and headed up to Richardson Grove for our annual camping trip. Due to California's budget crisis our normal "neck-of-the-woods" Oak Flat, was closed. We stayed in the Redwoods instead. It was still beautiful, still relaxing. Though, we could have done without the mosquitoes. The Eel River was wonderful. The water just right. Taluelah became more brave as the trip went along. By the last day she realized she could walk in the shallows all by herself. Her brothers have graduated to jumping off 20 ft. rocks and braving the "rapids".
Summer is beginning to wind down. There is another trip to SoCal in my near future. Family from the East Coast will be here at the end of August. The boys are getting older. Adam will be in 7th grade, Avery in 5th. Adam goes in on August 2nd to have braces put on. Taluelah has shown me the equivalent of a little boy wanting his nails painted. She has been requesting a drawn-on mustache. If we don't help her she finds a marker and does it herself. I have no idea where she comes up with these things??? I am continuing to decorate my arms with ink. Our new home is great and the owners want to sell. What it all means, I do not know. But it is. And so we live.
to be continued... soon, I hope.
