Lame Duck Summer

Some mixed feelings may be appropriate at this time of year.

We did a lot. We had busy days and relaxing days. We spent time with family and spent lots of time in the pool. We had fun traveling and had fun here at home. I am pretty satisfied with the amount of stuff we packed in the last three months.

But I have some regrets too. There was an insane amount of fighting and a good amount of whining. There were lots of kids (all of them mine) hanging around. Loitering, I like to call it. Complaining that there was nothing to do. There was a lot of TV watching and time spent on the computer and playing video games. I don't know that Andrew read an entire book all summer. My kids often heard me tell them to go find something to do, that I can't plan every second for them. They were frequently told to be quiet, to go play, or at times, to go to their rooms for quiet time.

I know I provided a lot of memories for the kids this summer. Heck, my last post went on and on about our fabulous bucket-list-ending weekend. But I just wonder if in worrying about the big stuff I overlooked some of the smaller, more important things. Maybe my kids didn't need a hotel stay. Maybe they just needed their mom to relax. And maybe act a little more like she enjoyed having her kids around.

I could draw some political parallels between me and the lame duck of late 2008. He may understand my roller coaster of emotions, how I know I did some good stuff that I can be proud of, but then all too easily things start unravelling really fast. What am I really going to be remembered for? Last fall, did Dubya just want to hightail it out of the White House (instead of waiting until January) and get on with the rest of his life? Kind of like how I feel like we should just start school tomorrow (instead of waiting till Wednesday) and get on with reality? Did he just want to turn the country over to someone else and rid himself of the burden of running it? Kind of like how I want to turn our family back over to routine and predictability and rid myself of the burden of entertaining it?

In hindsight, I think I know some things that I would have done differently, and how I can change in the future. Still, no single person will make a perfect commander-in-chief, whether of a country or a family. My kids should not put all their eggs in their mother's basket with the expectation that she will now be able to fix everything that might be wrong in our family. Because sometimes people need to work on fixing themselves. But now, on the brink of a new school year, I can only look forward. And a little hope never hurt anyone.