Another Summer's Drawing To A Close...

Well, it seems I (we) made it through another summer. I realize that with my vast readership base that some of you might be saying, "How hard can it be to make it through the summer?" To which I say it depends on your perspective.

Take the kids for example... they've managed to survive the doldrums of summer's 'boring' days and now have something to do... it's called school. Instead of complaining that it's too hot outside, they can now shift their complaints to having to get up too early (and the like). I'm going to say that the overall summer highlight was swimming lessons... they got to go in the pool then... thus not noticing how miserable it was outside.

I'm sure that what I recall growing up isn't going to jive with what my mom's recollection will be, but that's okay... we're probably both wrong... well... ahem... one of us will be. I can say that as a kid, the heat didn't stop me from going out to play (never mind the fact that I can sweat while taking a shower) if it was hot and humid, it simply meant sweating. On that rare occasion when sweating happens to my kids... it's a signal to come in, get a drink of water and cool off in front of the television... then find an excuse to stay in.

I'm sure I pined for the wading pool to go up and get filled just like my kids do and if my memory serves... it went up about as much as it does today. One stark difference though... back in the day, it was just me and my brother... two kids could get away with a 'smallish' pool and still have it be adequate. We either have to get six personal pools, or one larger one that requires twenty minutes to blow up (by compressor only) and only half of Lake Michigan to fill it. Then leaves an imprint in/on the lawn for the remainder of the summer. It takes like half a day to 'get it ready' only to have one side (due to the geography of our yard) be like 10" deep while the other end is bone dry. Then there's the customary "it's too cold" cry followed by the waiting for it to warm up. Once that happens (or when it becomes warm enough) and the fun gets into full swing, then there's the getting in and getting out. Someone gets out and gets back in with grass on their foot... again and again and again. Or the running into the house to "get something" and bailing on the kitchen floor. Lest we forget the thirsty bugs that inevitably fall in and cause an uproar. And lastly the ever popular "so and so won't stop splashing me!"

Good thing I don't own a cross-bow or a pellet gun because it would be around that time it would be time to pop that balloon. Ahhh... the perils of youth with a quasi grumpy dad.

I mentioned school and we now have 2/3 attending. I serve as the bus service driving from one side of town to the other. Our house is situated at a midway point between the two schools, so when it's all said and done, it's about 45 minutes of driving in the morning. (That 45 minutes is stretched to over an hour at pick time due to the different dismissal times) It's nice to have some (relatively speaking) quiet time with only the two youngest. It's too bad that those two have yet to figure out how to play nice together... well Lyndsey has. Ana's way of playing nice consists of a shove (or a whack) to the face.

Funny thing though, for some odd reason, Julie and I both didn't want the school year to start. I know outrageous! How can that be when every other parent counts down the days until 'they' go back? Perhaps it has to do with what we went though with Emmah when everything was in a state of constant upheaval... I can't say for sure. Even amidst the chaos and daily calamities... I'd rather have them here. I do know part of it... to have to make the lunches is not the highlight of Julie's morning nor is having to be the one to roust them. I don't exactly enjoy the stress of getting everyone to school on time everyday in spite of the tortoise like speed at which everything moves. Then there's the busses, trains and bridges to contend with.

So with August departing and a new September around the corner... my 44th such event... I (as I've mentioned time and again) look forward to the arrival of autumn and everything that goes with it. Typically drier air and cooler temps, the changing of the leaves... my favorite time of the year. It also means that it's taken me a year to post the MAW trip and we're only half way. It also means I need to start getting my ideas down for the annual Christmas novel/letter.

I started this night before last and since then, the kids have managed to survive their first week of the '08-'09 school year. Emmah was the first to come home with homework. I also know that they are looking forward to the three day weekend too.

Well, since I had nothing of substance to talk about in the first place, I can't rightly say that I've run out of things to write about... And yet here we are.

Until the next fancy tickles -

KEIYTAP

A Marking Of Time Passing...

I'm reminded of a line(s) from a Pink Floyd song... "You run and you run to catch up with the sun but it's sinking, racing around to come up behind you again. The Sun is the same in a relative way but you're older, shorter of breath and one day closer to death." I know I've used it in some variant form in an other post, but it really sums up the passing of time... in a relative way of course.

I realize that I write a lot about time... perhaps because it's an enigma. It's the only constant that has started God only knows when and will continue long after anyone's around to count and mark it out... or will it? I mean time is something that we, as humans, created to keep track of what really... the passage of time? Try as you might or as you wish, you can't speed it up, nor slow it down. You certainly can't stop it nor can you store it... (to us) it is what it is and will never change. In the end, what exactly are we keeping track of anyway? Who will be keeper of the clock when the human race no longer exists? Will it even matter then?

Sorry starting to go off on another tangent... back to the issues at hand.

Well, since it's (as of my posting) after midnight, that means technically it's no longer Sunday (the 3rd of August) but Monday. And if it's Monday, then that means August 4th. If it's August 4th, then it's Nick's birthday. That's right, Nick's birthday... his 10th. The start of the rest of his life having a two digit birthday number.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NICK!!!

Ten years gone like that... that's where you'd snap, to show the like that. I'd have to say that he's aged far better going from 1 to 10 than I did going from 33 to 43.

Unfairly, Nick's birthday will forever carry a dubious distinction. August 4th is also the day that started Emmah down her path. It was on this day, now two years ago, that 'the scan that started it all' was taken. Not much of a birthday celebration that day because right after the results revealed the mass, we then went home, packed some things and drove to the hospital to start the testing, thus starting an initial 25 day stay. With many more to follow...

That was two years ago... already.

Now?

Well, Emmah is now officially at camp. We dropped her off yesterday and she will be gone for a whole week. So we will be without our #1 babysitter and will be relying on our #2... but I fear that he will be busy training his dog and scooping up the poop. That's right... I said his dog, a husky. Hopefully he can manage to lend a hand in watching the other four while Julie and I work on the house trying to make some heavy progress on the exterior before our next pending court date on the 12th.

We also realize that the Make-A-Wish trip is almost (end of September) a year in the books already. With that it also marks out a year (October 20th) since Julie's dad's passing. It's funny... ironic... that time doesn't care one wit... and neither do we... until we stop and mark it out with anniversaries, birthdays and holidays and such. It is at that time that the passage hits us... "where does the time go?" It goes where it's always gone... to the past. Don't fret though for every minute that passes there's another coming to replace it.

Oh... I know some of you just went "A WHAT???" when you read Nick has a dog to train and take care of. I will let you off the 'hook'... it's Nintendogs... a game for his Nintendo DS. I mean honestly, do any of you think that we have the time to take care of dog too?

KEIYTAP