Well, we have about half a week left before Courtney’s Taxi Service starts easing back into working hours again. Thankfully, all the crazy doesn’t all happen once, but the reality is summer is winding down, and school starts in less than a month for both of my kiddos.
As much as I love the slower(ish) pace of summer . . . okay, scratch that because let’s face it, this summer hasn’t exactly been “slow” . . . it’s been more like madness with a nonexistent routine thrown in for good measure, and I love me a routine . . . anyhow, all that to say, I am very much looking forward to the routine that comes with the kids actually having some structure in their lives. They need structure. I need structure. Because as busy as we have been, I am not in the entertainment industry, and I don’t believe in filling every waking hour with doing “stuff” much to their dismay.
But with the routine comes the crazy, and all the crazy is about to ensue. While I’m ready for it, I also feel like I haven’t accomplished what I generally accomplish in the summer months because I haven’t had the time. So, I’m spending the next few days trying to catch up and put our lives in order before everyone starts back to their busy days and packed evenings.
Here’s the other thing. Somewhere, along the way, we decided that school should start the middle of August, and yet, the back-to-school ads are filled with kids in fall clothes, with their sweatshirts and their backpacks and the leaves falling around them as they head back to school on a beautiful crisp cool morning. You know what we’re not wearing in August (well, unless you’re a middle schooler and weather appropriate clothing isn’t your thing)? Sweatshirts. You know what else isn’t happening in August? Crisp and cool or leaves falling off the trees . . . unless it’s because they’re dead from lack of rain. Let’s be honest, we’d have to start school in mid-October in this part of the world for that to even be a remote possibility because in Texas summer is six months long if it’s a day.
Accurate back to school ads would involve children wearing shorts and t-shirts, drenched in sweat, trudging to and from school in both oppressive humidity and blazing sun. They should involve sunscreen, hats, and heat exhaustion, because that’s all that 100+ degree temps are good for.
I’m 42, and with each passing year, I loathe summer a little more. Not because my kids are out of school. They’re actually only out of school for part of summer as it is. I loathe summer because I’m 100% certain that Texas summers are trying to take my middle-aged self out. I am so white, I’m almost transparent so stepping outside requires copious amounts of sunscreen . . . skin cancer is not cool y’all nor are wrinkles. I don’t particularly enjoy swimming or sweating . . . which are almost the same thing at this point. And I’m not even sure why I try to garden because every summer I have hopes of no drought and rainy days . . . and every summer I’m disappointed and left with burnt up plants that no amount of watering will save.
In short, I’m ready for fall . . . which is approximately 90 days away give or take a few. But you’d best believe the second I cart these children off to school, I’m entering the land of strong denial. I’m putting away the spring and summer decor and pulling out all the fall stuff. I’m getting out my fall scented candles and I’m cranking the AC down and putting on a sweatshirt and leggings because this is just who I am. The one thing I won’t be partaking in whenever they make their reappearance? Pumpkin spice anything because no matter how hard I try to like it, and I have tried y’all, to me it tastes like perfume smells.
And with that last little nugget of unnecessary information, I’m off to try and salvage what’s left of my summer to do list. Try not to melt y’all.
Courtney's Contemplations . . . 