The Plan for the Summer: Lazing around

Maria and I spent a sunny and warm afternoon this week potting and re-potting flowers and herbs. It was the first real chance we've gotten during what has been a rainy and cold spring in Nashville. She smelled the basil and mint leaves, she played with a worm, she watered, and over-watered, the wooly thyme.

By the end of next week, she will be out of school and it makes me all sunshiny and warm inside to think we will have more days like that, days just puttering around like we did when she was a toddler. We used to spend countless time looking at just one worm wiggle in the dirt. It was glorious.

We have few plans for the summer -- a couple of week-long camps, and a trip to see the Abuelitos in Miami -- and I'm feeling good about it. The rush rush of our days has taken a toll. I have overslept a lot these last couple of weeks, and she is absolutely miserable in the morning. We're tired. I look forward to letting her sleep in as long as she wants.

And of course, all these fantasies of lazy summer are tempered by the fact I have an occasional panic thought about how many times I will hear "I don't have anyone to play with'' and how many times I will say: "Give me just a minute while I finish this work.'' In those moments of catastrophizing what is ahead, I wish we had a second child, grandparents who lived nearby, or at least a neighborhood full of playmates. And since it is my fantasy, let's say nice, polite children who clean up after themselves.

We have loads of craft supplies, more books than we can count, a nearby state park and ice pops in the freezer, so really, how can we not have an amazing summer? At least that is what I tell myself. I also am hoping that by summer's end she'll still want to stare at worms in the dirt with me.

Anybody else thinking about how to fill up long, lazy summer days?

Visit Bilingual in the Boonies and Los Pollitos Dicen.