It's started. The Instagram pictures from the moms doing all the fun summer-y things with their kids. Or the Facebook posts stating that vacation just started, and they are already ready for kids to be back in school. The check-ins from the pool. The fun with squirt guns.
I don't know what that's like. You see, I don't get to be a stay-at-home mom. I have to work. And by have to, it's not so I can live in a big ole' nice house. It's so I can pay a mortgage on a house that's actually more than the house is currently worth thanks to the recession and the neighborhood in which we live in.
My kids are spending their summer vacation with grandparents, not parents. We will try to cram in our loads of summer fun on the two short weekend days we have off, in between baseball games and grocery shopping and laundry. This summer will be different as well, since I don't really have much time to take off. I am trying to save my vacation time for whenever I have surgery, so that I will have at least a couple of weeks of paid time off. In fact, since I have no idea when I am having surgery, I am trying to cram in a whole summer's worth of fun into the next three weekends.... just in case.
I'm sure it's tough to be home with the kids in the hot weather, day in and day out, without much of a break from them. But it's also hard to leave every morning, knowing that your kids are out having great experiences without you. All those experiences that you really wish they were having with you.
So be grateful for the summer vacations. And I'll be grateful for the weekend.
Comments