Originally, my brilliant plans for this summer included coercing Mom to let my younger sister Sheryl come out for the WHOLE summer and live with us.  She could get a job driving combine for a local harvest crew, we could put her up in our guest bedroom, and I could get all the free babysitting my heart desired.  Just kidding.  Or am I?.....

   Long story short the master plan didn't exactly come to fruition.  But she DID get to come out for a two-week visit, which is CERTAINLY better than nothing.  I had to share her with my other sister living out here of course, but it worked out rather nicely, because Shannon had her for a week while we were in Hawaii, and then shortly after we got home we hosted her for the 2nd week.  It all worked out rather nicely.

   She even had a birthday while she was out here so naturally, bunny breakfast pancakes were in order and we threw a little joint party (joint parties forever!) for her and my niece Elissa, as their birthdays are one day apart.  We did the math, and apparently she turned 17, although I can't seem to wrap my mind around that, because than that means that I am turning 29 next month and not 23, which I seem to be eternally, mentally, forever frozen at.





   My streamers all fell down in the wind and I have no idea what story Randy is telling but it looks like a funny one.

   Unfortunately, the girls took a little time to warm up as they always do, but once the ice was broken they were in deep and there was no turning back.  They dearly love their auntie! And I just love this picture of them together.

  Sheryl, 

   Thank you for your patience with their million questions and book requests and constant jabber.  Thank you for flying out here all by yourself to see your Oregon family, and for taking the time and exerting the energy to get to know your nieces!  I am so grateful for every chance I get for my children to get to know my family better.  Visits are a rare and precious thing, and I never want to take a single one for granted!  I loved hearing all about high school drama, and banquet dresses and volleyball and life in Kalona.....I miss so much from back home and you make me feel young again.  So thanks again (and again and again) for coming out, and I will already be plotting our many adventures and escapades for next summer.  Ha.

Love you, sis. 



 

Today we went to the pool for the second, and probably last time this summer.

   Leaves are already starting to turn here and there quite slyly, almost as if they're guilty little children with their hands caught in the cookie jar.  Except this time the cookie jar is fall.  Blogs are bombarding the internet with "Fall wardrobe essentials" and "What I'm craving for fall" and "I can't wait for fall", and me?  I feel like I'm the one, remaining fan of a TV show that used to have a loyal fan base, but no one watches it anymore and the SEASON FINALE is coming up and it's just me and my lonely bowl of popcorn left to take it all in. I LOVE fall, but I'm just not ready to say my final goodbyes to summer yet.

 
     I read somewhere about how we only get 18 summers.  18 brief, blink-and-they're-gone summers, and then our kids are gone forever and just what are you doing with your precious, fleeting 18 summers?!  Talk about a panic attack! I have a love/hate relationship with posts like that.  On one hand, it sort of encourages me to get out there and carpe diem.  On the other hand it makes everything start to feel a little pressured and hurryhurryhurry and "Oh no, there's not enough time!!!" And, "Are we having fun yet?  We'd better be!  We'd pretty much better be having the time of our lives because we've only got 16 summers left!!!!"  And my heart starts racing and I start to feel all frightened and sweaty and regretful and horrifically wasteful of seconds and moments and memories and then I think..."Wait a second.  It's not supposed to be like this." 

   And I take a deep breath and I realize that I may squander a few moments (or even days) here and there but what my children will have in 18 years is either a great relationship with me or they won't, and that's what I'll care about.  Not how many Pinterest crafts we completed, or magnificent works of art we produced, or zoos, pools, parks, museums or libraries we frequented. 

It's not a race.  It's just our life.

    Summer, on the other hand, DOES feel like a race.  I've learned pretty quickly in my short time of living here in the Pacific Northwest that you can't take summer for granted.  Not one single, hot, sticky day of it.  Because if you blink, it's gone.  And you're wanting it back, and wishing you had soaked up every second. 
 
   There are two seasons in the Pacific Northwest.  There's Winter, which means pretty much cold, wind and rain, and something I'll call Sumtumningish.  That's summer, autumn and springish, all rolled into one.  Which pretty much means, you get this little blip-on-the-radar of a summer, a wannabe fall, and something that sort of looks like it's trying to be spring.   That's my interpretation.  But if that's ultra-confusing and you're a visual learner like myself, here is a helpful little graph that I found on the internets.....