The Last Day of Summer

Today was the last day of summer. The kids were, still, at loose ends. I had a routine doctor's appointment this morning and then Andrew, Greta, and I went to school for her "Take a Peek" morning, where she got to go to her classroom, put her things in her locker, and talk to her teacher. She's very excited to get started. Lucia is excited and nervous. 

I had a tennis lesson, and then all four of us went to the pool for lunch. The kids were at loose ends there too. It's just time for school to start. We came home and Lucia finished her summer Spanish reading and got her school supplies packed up. I vaccuumed Greta's room, which had many bun-fur tumbleweeds blowing around--Nutmeg is still dramatically molting. Then Lucia had cross-country practice. And that was the day.

This summer seemed long, which I guess is okay, and we're only now really feeling that loose-ends, need-structure listlessness. We had our month in New Hampshire, and our week in Cape May. We had two new long-form crafts: jewelry making with beads, and resin jewelry. Those were both highly successful and we spent many days on both. There was a lot, a lot, of reading. Greta read 12,000 pages and about 45 books; Lucia read 8,000 pages and about 25 books. Greta's favorites were the Magnus Chase series (Rick Riordan) and the Kane series (also Rick Riordan). Lucia loved the Ember in the Ashes series (Sabaa Tahir) and YA thrillers Jane Anonymous and The Last Secret You'll Ever Keep (Laurie Faria Stolarz).  

The kids played in the basement a lot, mostly riding their hoverboards around but also playing board games and playing Roblox. They swung on their saucer swings. They practiced touch typing and did Duolingo everyday, sometimes twice a day. We went to the pool. They had some tennis lessons. They collected Mini Brands. 

Lucia complained tonight that thirty minutes of kickball is on her schedule for tomorrow, which she hates, because she and a friend are always picked last for teams. I reassured her that only a very few are the ones picked first. Everyone else she'll ever meet is right there with her, picked last, hating every second of it, and she'll rehash what happens in middle school for the rest of her life. Reflecting now, I see that those probably weren't the cheerful, positive, inspiring words the moment required ("Just do your best! Have so much fun!!"), but onward we go. Was that my first parenting fail of the school year? Getting a head start, I guess.

It's melancholy to say goodbye to summer, even though there's so much ahead to look forward to. The night before the first day of school. I dislike the charged, simmering feeling. I saw a Faulkner quote today that says it best: "Some days in late August at home are like this, the air thin and eager like this, with something in it sad and nostalgic and familiar." Thin and eager. That's exactly how it is.