The Raft

Today is the first day of summer vacation.
"But Liz," you say, "your children are 3 & 1, what concern could the school year possibly cause you?"
Well, throughout the school year, I watch my friend's kids from 3:30 - 6, after school.

9 months ago I started this gig. Wyatt was 11 months old, a far cry from his now "almost 2" status. Abby was 2 & 1/2, Kieran was 7 and Quinnie was 11. Each day we went up to Jody's and greeted the kids as they got off the bus.

Random day that the kids were off from school - we headed to Pumpkintown!

I could tell you about their exhaustion, their busy schedules, their difficulty adjusting to summer boredom to school craziness - with homework and extracurriculars and sports.
I could tell you how hard it was for me to try to show patience while teaching patience.
I could tell you hard it was for me to adjust from putting dinner on the table each and every night for my family at 6:00 (promptly) and my kids down to bed at 6:30.
I could tell you how strange it was for me to be in my friend's house as a paid employee and not a guest.

One of several "family" dinners.

Instead I want to share with you how much I love showing patience for 2 very tired, very over-scheduled, very smart, very loving, very well-taken care of children as they learn to show patience for my 2 kids.

I want to tell you how much I love helping with homework, projects, peer-pressure struggles and soccer practices.

I want to share with you that a little boy who all but hated having 2 babies in his house each day, touching his stuff, speaking to him in a language he didn't understand, all-around bugging him - how that little boy came to playing with, showing how to use his stuff and straight up offering to help and easily enjoyed protecting those same 2 "babies" within a few months time.

I want to offer that a little girl who is a t time in her life in between "little girl" and "teenager" learned how to laugh at herself, how to shrug off kids who don't count in the long run and how to enjoy and look forward to challeneges that scared her to death in the beginning of the school year.

February Vacation - spent a day at the Lutz.

In 9 months I learned so much about myself as a friend, neighbor, mother and just as an adult - a person who's every word, facial expression & action is studied by the little faces all around and affects each little person in a way, very often, different than intended.

I helped these kids as much as they helped me. We learned from each other.
Getting off the bus to me is not as good as getting off the bus to their own mom, but I like to think it's as close as we can all get. Because that's how it felt to me.

Lunch at Evergreen.

And their mom, my friend. I loved making her house feel like "home" for her when she got home from work. I loved loading the dishwasher, or lighting a candle or starting dinner. I loved making her entrance as peaceful as possible after her long day at work, just as I try to do for my own home, for my husband.
I often joked with my husband that I was the stay-at-home-mom for both households.

Last day of school - Pizza Dinner!

"Next year" (meaning - in 3 months, when Fall unofficially starts and the buses rev up their engines again; when high school kids don their wool sweaters and corduroys fresh off the rack for "fall" only to sweat their asses off as it is actually still quite "summery" for a few months; when the book bags & pencil cases are still full & organized, the books are still neatly covered; when the lunches & snacks are healthy and carefully packed; when the lazy days of summer actually begin to crave the structured days of school... can you tell how much I love Fall? And it's not even summer yet?) - I will take the kids off the bus again.

And I already can't wait!