Too Much of a Good Thing?

This is the beginning of my last week of summer vacation. I was reflecting yesterday on how a person goes through summer vacation in various stages.

At first it's pure bliss. I love hanging out with my kids, staying up late, running them to their sports and library and taking them to the park. The summer has just begun, and it seems so long until it will be over.

The heat settles in. I still love summer. I dread the thought of going back to school. I scowl at back-to-school ads. We go swimming. We camp out.

And then August comes. We have swimming lessons. We go on a little vacation. And then it's over. But it's not over yet.

I can't take the heat and humidity anymore. I am fantasizing about soup and baking squash in the oven. I find myself yearning for the sound of the band playing at a high school football game down the street.

We have nothing to do. I can't take cleaning up after the kids anymore. They HAVE to get back to school so they stop screaming, whining, trying to kill each other, smarting off at me, messing up the house, and eating all of the freaking food.

I am a pretty low-key and I like not having any structure to the day. I like having free time to write, read a book, play outside, whatever.

But I can't possibly take any more of it! I am bored to death. I hate to admit it, but I am sick of all three of the kids. They have to go far away for just a little while so I can have a strong drink!

We need some structure again. These guys need a real bedtime, and they need to get up in the morning. They need to eat three meals a day, three decent meals, instead of just grazing on everything all day long with no real schedule.

Part of it is my fault. I get bored, and then I get lazy. This is how I grew up. We never had any structure, especially not in the summer. Life was just wide open and free. That's how I live my life right now. But things need to go a little more the other way.

I have a meeting at the school on Wednesday morning. I am simultaneously dreading and looking forward to going back to school. I want to talk with Fave Student and see if he read the books I lent him and what he thought of them. I want to bullshit with the students. I want to pack an awesome lunch in my new insulated lunch bag. I want a routine.

But when school starts I am going to complain that I have no free time. Between the paper, the school, the kids, the house, the suppers, dishes, laundry, everything gets really overwhelming. And I won't have much time to write in my book.

It's 2 p.m. and I am still working on my morning coffee. I have work to do and I'm blogging instead. As much as I love this, I hate this. FML.