Can it rain anymore? This soggy ground is spoiling my hiking goals! Yes, of course I can hike in the rain. But I don’t want to 😀 It’s not that I think I’ll melt, but I’m sure I’ll have to clean muddy shoes and a muddy car -not really worth it! (I’m feeling more and more like it’d be worth it the longer I have to wait, though.)
The most frustrating thing of all is that this summer, when the grass is scorched, the pavement is threatening to burst into flames and the flowers look like month old cuts in a forgotten vase, there won’t be a rain cloud within miles! I’m aware that complaining about the weather is fruitless and whiny to boot, but I’ll indulge myself anyway 🙂
School is still going very well on all fronts. Both children, the one tired of bringing home hours of homework each week (turning school days into 12 hour shifts) and the one who sleeps in and still gets all the work done by the afternoon hours were very, very ready for Christmas break! It came just at the right time, and lasted just about for the right amount of time, although we’ve taken an extra week most years before this one. I could stay on break indefinately, however, because I have lots of hobbies and interests to pursue that just get barely paid attention to when school is in session. Maybe empty nest syndrome won’t affect me so greatly…
Nah. I’ll probably forget all about my own interests for awhile!
I’ve got quite a few years to avoid thinking about that, but the older my children get, the more it comes to the surface of my musings. I’ve tried to encourage independence in every area from the very start, not at all being one of those parents who felt displaced by the insistent “Me do it!” plea from confident toddlers – isn’t it our job to teach them not to need us?? I’m always perplexed when parents get all worked up over their child’s growing independence. Didn’t they see that coming? Not that I’m not emotional about it sometimes. I think it depends on what it is. For example, I wasn’t at all ruffled when my daughter began to insist on fixing her own hair. A little embarrassed at times, maybe, by her “creative” hairdos (lol), but certainly never feeling regretful about giving up the job! It’s only when their independence cramps my ideals about the way things should be done that I feel a twinge of desire to do it for them – but that is not because I seek their dependence on me. It is because I sometimes just like things done my way 😉 hee-hee
We had wonderful Christmas and New Year holidays, made extra special with more time than usual with family, and the return to reality is both welcome (because it’s fair and unavoidable) and despised (because it would be nice to be together all the time and live on a barter system and scrap this “American Dream Life”).
I’ll close with a quote from a good song: “I wish the real world would just stop hassling me.”
🙂
Reflections 