The Summer of Our Discontent

For an expert catastrophizing middle-aged mom like myself, the end of school brings an enormous amount of anxiety as one watches the school district you are wedded to become a seething pit of uncertainty because planning for next year is simply not possible in a world of contracts and bureaucracy and funding and all the "and's" you can put in that sentence... O_O   So, I've decided that it is simply not possible to predict how horrible next year will be with any real accuracy and assuming the worst-case scenario is best for now, so I can have a horrible, illness-focused summer, and be good and insane by fall.



***screeching noise***


Wait, what did I just type?????

There has to be a better way.

When you find it, and you don't live WHERE I do, and have to deal with WHAT I do, let me know.  In the meantime, I'm going to try very hard to focus on what can be accomplished this summer and let go of what cannot, and start trying to make a few good memories in the shit pile of life while I still can.

So, in honor of a summer of worrying about things I cannot control, trying to control things I can, and absolutely no wisdom to be had on any front by any means because the world has gone nutso around us all, I'm going to spend a LOT of time staring at my garden because cucumbers grow almost fast enough to WATCH, and sit at the pool shouting variations of "NO, Eric, don't, you'll drown; NO, Eric, stop, you'll drown him/her; NO, ERIC, STOP---do NOT eat the thing you found on the ground."

We will also be exploring fishing (yes, I'm having to watch YouTube videos on how to kill, gut, and clean fish because there are no men available in my world who are willing to do that sort of thing---thanks deskjob nuclear engineer husband, for being squeamisher than I ever thought possible), building robots, writing essays on books, setting things on fire in the back yard (did I say that out loud?), and laughing uproarishly at Gilbert and Sullivan daily and in Houston at the performance of The Sorcerer.

Oh, and for good measure...so you don't forget it's me, I'll also do a LOT of this: