Summer mirage

 

This song has been going through my head this week, one of the epic + quintessential songs from a really fun summer of my past.  "It's the summer of love, love, love." It makes me think of a little red Ford Tempo, lent by my grandparents while they were away for year, windows down, breeze rushing through my hair, twilight approaching, music up. Maybe that's why I've been craving orange popsicles and lemonade a bit.

What will this be the summer of? The kids all have completely different kinds of summer in store.

Lauren will be working full time for 7 weeks as a camp counselor in a local day camp.

Maddy will be working as a volunteer (if you visit Orchard House, look for our girl there) and attending girl's camp and EFY and doing driver's ed.

Sam will be attending an awesome service/outdoor adventure boys camp for a few weeks in July (more on that later) and then enjoying a free and easy August.  

For the first year ever, we won't all be summering to the beat of the same drowsy & spontaneous drummer. (hmm, in that analogy, am I that drummer? Yes.) Hopefully we'll still find time to go to the pond together, to bike for ice cream now and then, and go to a drive-in movie. But it'll be different kind of summer and I'll miss the old lovely togetherness (with an honest side of nagging and nerves).

However. The younger two kids are still in school for one more week. For Maddy, it's the worst week of the entire year because of finals. Is that a thing with all high schools now? Ours has university-style finals week at the end of each semester, using a special schedule where everyone takes two long exams a day, some of them cumulative for the year.  Too much and too soon, I say! Anyway, shhhhhhhh about summer around Maddy; it's all just a mirage for her at this point, a summer mirage. She's all highlighters, rewritten notes, and library afternoons until next Friday. (Go Maddy!)

. . .

photo via pinterest and this, attributed to vookie

You're a good man...

Sam rocked and relished the role of Roy in his middle school's production of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown this past week. It's his first brush with the stage and I think he's hooked.  Can you spot him here on the back row with his mouth open in Peanuts-like enthusiasm?

Who exactly is Roy, you ask?

He's the guy who wears the green fez and scribble shirt, naturally!

Sam is someone who believes in the power of research. He scoured Peanuts websites and comics for mention of Roy. He might have just been using the excuse to spend more time on the computer but just maybe we are witnessing the birth of a method actor. Who is Roy? What are his motivations? What are his hopes and dreams?

He had several lines, the most memorable (originally written for Sally, I think) was:

"I was jumping rope… everything was all right when… I don’t know… suddenly it all seemed so futile!"

There was much discussion and weighing of the pronunciation of "futile" in our household.

Is it fyoo-tile? Fyoo-tul?

Bravo, Sam!

(True story: When I was young I thought everyone was yelling "Provo!" at the end of performances. Somehow it made strange sense to me, maybe since both of my sets of grandparents lived there, and I relished shouting Provo as often as I could.)

p.s. It's fyoo-tul.

Backseat confessional

Something about riding in the car inspires all sorts of conversations and confessionals, doesn't it? A usually reticent boy will open up and relate detailed school interactions, thoughts about current events, intricacies of middle school social structure, plots of books, outlines of essays he's writing. The key is to remain mildly interested but not TOO interested if you know what I mean. Like most skittish creatures, middle school boys scamper away at the first hint of bright spotlight and inquiry.

Last week we were driving to scouts (or some other such thing) and a certain someone started describing how in one class his friends started dissing their parents, telling stories about how lame or clueless or (gulp) awful their parents are.

This should be interesting, I thought. Remember: skittish. Channel disinterest, disinterest, disinterest.

"Oh? Hmmm..."

"Yeah, I couldn't really think of anything really. But finally I told everyone how you used to mix up my shorts with Maddy's when you folded laundry into piles."

Well, whew. Internal fist pump. Though I couldn't decide if he was trying to compliment me or clear his conscience! 

I had to laugh. Don't get me wrong; there are tons of things he could have said about my cluelessness/bad parent moments. But as evidentiary exhibits of bad parents go, I'll take it. I love his rosy memory and am just thrilled that at least one of my kids doesn't have an encyclopedic memory of all of my less stellar moments. Because they're there. Oh, they're there. Just ask my other two.

List of five: How we roll today

1. It snowed. Happy April Fools Day, New England style!

2. Unfortunately, this car is not how we roll today.

Lauren and Maddy got into a fender bender last night, where they were the middle of a three-car cruncher. Luckily, everyone was okay other than being a little shaken. (They complained of some achiness this morning so we asked the doctor to check out Maddy's headache and neck ache and Lauren's back ache. All is well.) But still scary.  Someone please come up with a bubble wrap enclosure for our teenagers. Okay, thanks.

3. G had to do a video teleconference from home this morning so we got him all set up.

The tower of board games to position the light was particularly delightful. Oh, yeah. That's how we roll.

4. School is hard work. Naps are how we roll on Friday afternoons.

Changing the world, one nap at a time.

5. Thank you for your paint suggestions! They definitely led me in the right direction and now I have a very nice reference folder for future projects. I settled on Moonshine for our bedroom, a soothing grey. This was my Moonshine inspiration, at Young House Love , where someone sent me but I can't remember who:

So far I love it. The faded wallpaper and quirky tree mural from the previous owner are gone, baby, gone! Um, yes, it took me three years from that wallpaper post to get to the bedroom paint makeover. And, yes, I STILL decided the paint color at the last minute. I'm coming to realize (and G has long known) that's just how I roll.

Happy weekend, one and all! I will be enjoying General Conference, attending a dear friend's daughter's bat mitvah, doing prom errands with Lauren, and cozying up for some family time.

He rose from his sick bed

Sam had a piano recital today and we weren't entirely sure whether he'd make it, what with the whole stomach flu thing afflicting him since Tuesday, but he did it and with gusto (and a few pre-recital butterflies). Sam's awesome piano teacher has really encouraged his composing as well as his playing and so they chose this Sam original for today's performance. I give you Anxiety, with an embellishment of some guy's cough and my gritty realism (shaky) camera skills:

It made me remember piano recitals of my youth. It's where I first learned that I get sweaty hands when I'm nervous. And then I get really, really sleepy, which is the opposite of the adrenaline boost that would be helpful. I remember having odd, out-of-body thoughts like "those are my fingers playing this song. Weird. I'm really sleepy. How do I even remember the notes? DO I remember the notes?" and then I'd either stumble or, miraculously, my fingers would take over without needing my pesky brain.

I love that Sam called this Anxiety. It's like a musical map to one of his emotions. A window into his (not pesky at all) brain.