An End and A Beginning

This is it:  The last week before school starts again.

About this time every year I look back on the summer and wonder where the time went.  Did we do everything we wanted to do?  Did we accomplish our summertime goals?

For me, the first goal of summer is to relax.  Sleeping in.  Hanging out.  Playing together.  Reading alone.  Preparing easy meals.  Not packing school lunches – yay!

Then I think about the things we need to do that are easier to accomplish during the summer, like swim lessons, painting with the windows open, and having garage sales.

The away vacations and leisure activities are bonuses – things to create family memories or write about the first day of school when the teacher assigns the inevitable “What Did You Do This Summer?” essay.

The last few weeks of August take on a life of their own as we prepare to go back to school.  This year I’m determined not to fall into the back to school shopping trap, though sometimes the school supply lists baffle me.  Since when are white-out and reinforcements necessary items?  At least I’m happy to see only twelve pencils listed instead of the sixty they asked for one year in Fort McMurray.  Sixty pencils?  That worked out to more than one a week!

In any case, as the end of summer arrives, another season quickly takes its place.  Funny how that works.

Now what do I want to accomplish this fall?