As we prepare to welcome Summer into our lives, there are more changes afoot than just the return of strawberries, watermelon and sunscreen.   While life outside our home blooms and grows to become more vibrant in its appearance and bouquet, life inside begins its annual shuffle to new activities, plans, sports and responsibilities.  We transition from skis and shovels, to soccer balls and bicycles, from the skating rink to the swimming pool, from hot chocolate to popsicles, and the calls for me to setup the trampoline become a daily recurrence.  Yes Summer is in the air, teasing us a little more each day, just as it does around this time every year, just as I foolishly convince myself of every year around this same that that I assume Summer means life will get a little less busy; that our schedules will shift to fewer responsibilities and that we all may get a little more time to ourselves.  Ha!

I think the cruelest part about the month of June is that we begin “The Countdown”, not just in our home but in our society as a whole, that really messes with my sense of what Summer really is.  That countdown of course is the measure of how many days until school lets out.  We can measure that by calendar days, actual school days, how many exams are remaining, or even by fun school-event days that seem to pop up more in the final month of classes than any other time throughout the semester.  My daughter has no less than 5 field trips scheduled in June, on top of a PD day, jump rope for heart day, a class party day, and a school fair.  All told, I think they have about 17 minutes of actual class learning time over the next three weeks, and while I am genuinely completely fine with that, my silly adult brain somehow seems to think that I, too, get these things.  I am in constant need of reminder that I actually need to still show up at work.   That I don’t get to show up on “feel Good Friday” in my pyjamas.  For us adults there is no party, there is no field trip, and there is no countdown.  Bah humbug.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m excited for the kids to experience both the Summer vacation, as well as the lead up to it, and I’m honestly not all ‘sour grapes’ about having to still wake up at the same time, prep my lunch and show up at the office while they’re still either sound asleep or eating Luck Charms in front of cartoons.  I know full-well that the grass is not always greener and that if I were home 24-7 for two straight months in the still, dry heat of Summer with my two wonderful, lovely, caring, hilarious, adventurous and beautiful children, then I might actually have just described them with a different set of adjectives to from the ones I just used.  I also won’t deny that Summer months in the office do tend to slow down a little bit, and that the general feeling amongst the team is a little ‘lighter’.  People are generally in brighter spirits – with stories to share, adventures and travel plans to look forward to, and a slightly lighter workload on their desks.  There are more ‘out of office’ replies, both internally and externally, which means that the pressure to hurry up and get it done attitude subsides and most of us can function at a more reasonable pace with reasonable expectations and reasonable amounts of stress.  Until the Fall, at least, when all hell breaks loose and everyone’s back at their desks realizing that they are two months behind schedule now.  But let’s not think about that just yet.  The point is – these kids have started a countdown to a two month sabbatical and the jealous part of my brain feels that it should apply to me too.

As for the parts of me that look forward to things slowing down on the schedule, I have genuinely no clue where that feeling comes from.  We have camps, playdates, barbecues, travel plans, camping, and sports that we now need to fit into our days, all of which need to happen around our ongoing work schedule.  The good news is, I suppose, that camps take the adult work-schedule into account to ensure that drop off and pick time are outside of regular work hours…not!!!  The logistics of Summer planning and events are the Super Bowl of parenting and I salute each and every parent and guardian out that for making it somehow work.  There are heroes among us, and until you have lived through needing to coordinate a wake up on time, to breakfast, to sunscreen, to shoes on and out the door, to camp drop off, to work, to camp pick, to dinner, to dance, to soccer, to snack, to brushing teeth, to books, to second snack, to second teeth brushing, to “I’m not tired” battle, to pass out on the couch routing, then those heroes go sadly unseen.  Somehow in all of that, the dishes got done, the garbage was taken out, and hopefully we fit in some showers or a bath for the kids.  The point is, Summer isn’t less busy at all;  it’s a constant state of chaos, tired, and ‘go’.  It’s also, perhaps, my favourite time of year.

So let the countdown continue – I’ll happily mark the days off with my kids, jealous as I am, because it also means our patio furniture is out, the backyard games are setup, that the barbecue will be the prime source of our meal prep, and that our canoe will soon take to the water.  Ultimate has started up, baseball is in full swing, and I get to see friends I haven’t seen since we all went into hibernation last Fall.  Sure, there will be bee stings and allergies, and tourists and obnoxiously loud motorcycles passing through our town, but there will also be corn on the cob, campfires, and brisket.  Bring it on.