despite waiting in line for carpool pickups {why ya gotta be so ruuuuude}

"Love looks not with eyes, but with the mind,

And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind."

-William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream

...

now tell me,

where did summer go?

if i close my eyes it all feels like one short dream.

the kind you have right before you wake up suddenly, 

in the early hours of the morning.

where you've just had the best sleep of your life,

and you can't think of anything else you'd rather do, 

than go back to sleep and pick up in your dream right where you left off.

i have never put off everything enjoyed anything like i did with this summer.

my house was a mess the entire time.

because we weren't inside of it,

and when we were, we were rushing for baths and bed,

and the waiting slumbers of our pillows.

i went weeks without going to the grocery store,

{my record was 2 and a half. weeks guys. weeks.},

which always made dinner a creative and ingenious process,

and winder milk to my door an absolute NECESSITY.

i did laundry only when we ran out of swimming suits and towels,

and i cleaned my house on a "we can't live in this filth" basis.

which might i add, 

always made it feel cleaner than it ever has been before for about 3 hours after i finished cleaning it.

amazing.

i felt like we were a step behind the entire time, 

but in THE BEST of ways, if you can even imagine it.

i spent more time outdoors than in.

never have i ever craved the outdoor air like i did this year.

we went through sunscreen bottles like beetles on my tomato plants,

and my pumpkin plants went on strike.

{still only one growing out there folks. i could cry.}

as i've been driving my kids to school and orientations this week,

and when our "summer songs" that we will always remember 

as our favorites from this year come on the radio, 

i can almost feel the pool water going through my water wrinkled fingers,

with my feet shoved into the kid flippers that swam me around like i was in the middle of the deep blue sea, 

swimming across the afternoon shaded pool,

where i can feel my goggles leaving marks around my eyes, 

and my hair that's escaping the braid i tried to trap it in, 

insisting on dancing in the water on the surface at my shoulders.

and if i listen close enough i can almost hear my kids splashing on the stairs in the water beside me.

i don't have one single care in the world, knowing that chase is napping in his crib in grandma's basement,

and the only thing on our agenda for the rest of the day is pineapple popsicles and take out,

with the music blaring over the gazebo speakers.

and when i'm scooting my kids out the door in the mornings this week and the next to come,

waiting for the leaves to start turning colors,

and those summer songs come on the radio,

i'll remember those days in the pool,

with my feet shoved into the kiddie flippers,

and those summer songs will take me back there.

so that just for a minute i won't have a care in the entire world.

dreaming of pineapple popsicles and those summer songs on the radio.

despite waiting in line for carpool pick ups.

sing it with me,

"why ya gotta be sooooo ruuuuuude?"

{"i'm wearing these boobs tonight." -max}