August and Everything After

It's August, can you believe it? School supplies are everywhere and we are imagining the end of summer as it cruises around the corner. The internet is awash in moms who are fed up with summer and are counting down the days till the first day of school, but I can honestly say, at this very moment, I haven't had enough. Not enough reading and playing and popsicles, not enough long mostly one sided conversations about Pokémon, not enough time with Max, relaxed and in his element.

There have been days when I missed the structure of the school year. There have been moments when I have been so hungry for solitude I could hardly stand it. I have chafed a bit under my summer constraints, but on those days I have always remembered, I will have solitude again. I know I will have long quiet hours to write. Time enough to run as far as I want as often as I want.

What I will not have again is the crazy summer of eight years old. Amid the Pokémon chatter and legos and Bionicles (whose names I still can't keep straight), we have shared so much this summer. It has been pure joy to watch Max grow not only in inches and shoe size but in compassion and understanding. His heart has grown over the summer and I count myself lucky to have been here to witness it.