Slow Start to Summer
Summer is officially here. We celebrated the last day of school on Friday, along with a birthday for my now-six-year-old. Last week was a whirlwind; field day, yearbook distribution, swim practice, birthday prep. I thought I could do a quick turnaround over the weekend—take care of the neglected laundry and dishes, plan out our summer schedule, and be ready to start summer off with a bang. I'd do the grocery shopping and have the snacks ready. We'd head to the pool first thing for morning swim practice, and jump right from our school schedule to our summer schedule.
I always give a lot of weight to the way we start things—the first day of school, the first day of summer, the beginning of a season. The way we start sets the tone, and I want to set the right tone.
What I didn't plan on was a trip to Urgent Care at 7:45 pm Sunday night, just when I should have been putting kids to bed so I could pack the pool bag and set the coffee maker for a smooth Monday morning. A busted lip from the new six-year-old meant a call to the pediatrician, who couldn't quite tell through the photo I sent if he'd need stitches or not. She recommended Urgent Care just in case, and operating on the principle of better safe than sorry, we went. Urgent Care couldn't help us though, and they sent us on to the ER. The ER decided that no, he didn't actually need stitches—just give it some ice, soft foods for a couple of days until the swelling goes down, stay out of the pool for a day, keep an eye on it—and sent us back home. By the time we got home it was after ten, and I was too tired to worry about checking anything off my to-do list.
This morning, I woke up conflicted. Scramble to get everything ready to start the summer off how I planned, or change course and spend the morning at home? One kid had been looking forward to morning practice starting, one wouldn't be able to get in the water. Staying home meant that just as quickly as I made progress on chores, messes would be made. But there were five loads of laundry waiting to be folded, a grocery order I'd never gotten around to finishing, and a checklist of things that needed to be done. The kids were tired—and so was I.
We could have pushed through, scrambled to get down to the pool, stuck to the plan. But one morning at home getting things in order would make the rest of the week easier. The pool would still be there in the afternoon. One missed swim practice won't be remembered in a few weeks. A slow start to summer isn't what I planned, but it's what we needed.