Summer vacations!!

 

I pull my Jeep up to the pavilion at Commons Park, and my two Littles jump out. It is the first day of soccer camp sponsored by Angola Parks and Recreation. Faith and Noah could hardly wait for this day! They are already signed up, and we head over to the picnic table where we are greeted by Tabitha and her staff. They check off their names and they are in! I tell them I will wait in my car. “The camp lasts until 11:00,” I am told by one of the staffers. “I know,” I say, “but they might need me.” They gently tell me I can go, but I don’t want to go. I want to wait and watch and be there if they need me. They show me the app for my phone to install and tell me they will text me if the twins need me. I am reluctant. Could I hide my Jeep so that they don’t see me? Should I just sneak away behind the bathrooms?

I am contemplating all of this when little Faith says, “It’s okay, Nannie. You can go home. Me and Noah will be fine. Go home, Nannie.” My six-year old granddaughter tells it like it is. I blink back the tears. I will miss them, but I get it. I get back in the Jeep to leave. I wave at them, but they are already making friends with the other children. They do not wave back. Oh great, just like taking kids to college. I just go back home, and try and decide what to do first. Bake brownies? Clean the house? Take a shower? I decide on the shower as I keep checking my phone for messages. No messages.

Let me digress a bit. In the late winter Abe decided to take the family to Europe for a month. All of us. Cool! Although I have been several times this will be fun with all the four children. However, the more I thought about it, the more I thought this might not be the best idea. I ran a thought by Abe. “Why don’t the Littles stay at the purple house and you take the older girls, Holly and Brianna.” The Littles really do not care about the Eiffel Tour or cooking classes! They do not care about the Coliseum or the art in Florence. Abe agreed. They left for Europe a week ago leaving the Littles with me for a month.

Noah promptly said, “Holly and Brianna are going to France and Italy, but me and Faith have Dollar General, Dairy Queen, and you, Nannie!” I guess all in all, everyone wins. Since I have known for a few months, I have had the time to plan their summer with me. I knew I needed a balance between events and just having fun here at the house so I was careful with my planning. Tickets for Popcorn Theatre at the Tibbits Opera House. Check. Tickets for the ice cream train. Check. Tickets for Angola’s Got Talent and the Youth Theatre at the Furth. Check. Camping (in my backyard.) Check. Neighborhood party with my favorite band. Check.  Of course, lots of family time with Aaron and Rachel, Graham and Jonah. Check. Finally, soccer camp. Check and check.

They have chores too. These chores greet them every morning on the chalkboard. Even though they are just learning to read, they know what they say. Make your bed. Take out the trash. Bring down the laundry. Clean up your toys. They check the chalkboard before anything else, even before breakfast! They understand chores at my house since there is always lots of work to do, and they want to be helpers! They help with the grocery shopping, but we don’t tell the parents that I have filled my kitchen shelves with fudge cookies and pop tarts! The refrigerator is full of lots of goodies also. “We won’t tell our parents,” they say. Right. I know better, but too bad, the parents are in Europe.

Back home I take a shower. I clean the kitchen. I bake brownies. I check my text messages every five minutes. Finally, I go back to pick them up and they both talk at once about soccer and their new friends. I am grateful for these programs at the park. I am grateful my son trusts me with these two precious bundles.

I smile, and by the way, it really is good to take a shower!