May….a month of sun, flowers, renewal…and one or two other things:
Club volleyball tournament–The end of an era.
Our 17 year old daughter’s volleyball season, and her club career, ended with a family trip to the annual Memorial Day Weekend tournament at Penn State, a 4 hour drive from our house.
Soccer season ended for her 10 year old brother with an all-day tournament last Saturday, a much easier 40 minute drive from home.
We ran around a lot this spring.
Chorus concert. Strings concert. Project & activity showcase. All three were nice May evenings at the elementary school.
Field day. End of the year scout events.
Projects. Presentations. Studying. Post-PSAT college mail continuing to arrive most days, often waiting in a stack, unopened.
High school final exams…wrapped up today by our freshman and are coming up next week for her sister, the rising senior–their schedules out of sync because they chose to attend different high schools.
For me, dozens of hours devoted to coordinating statewide tests in the school where I work led to materials inventoried, distributed, used, re-inventoried, and shipped out on a truck last week–while still trying to do my regular work at the same time.
For my wife, lots of juggling to get everyone where they needed to be, including morning and afternoon carpools for the daughter who opted for a school 35 minutes from home….carpools that made possible, as it turns out, for that daughter to have the most successful school experience of her life over the past 10 months….but taxing, nevertheless, for a work-from-home mom with 2 other kids (and me).
In broad strokes, that was May 2013 in the DadKnowsBetter household.
So this may be most welcome summer we have had as a family.
My first book of summer.
There will still be logistics and driving. And there will be appointments and accomplishments to sort out–doctors to see, a driving test for 17, a summer camp here and there…
But there will also be time to catch our breath. And more time to read books that no one assigned. And time to sift through that stack of college brochures–and to visit a few schools in person. Time to relax by the pool during 10 and 14’s swim team practice. And to travel a little. And to write more.
I’m open to suggestions of summer-only….or summer-mainly…ways to unwind. Any thoughts?
