kids on beach silhouette

Red cabins, backlit by the morning sun. Mist blankets the surface of the lake. Colorful towels flap in the breeze. The crunch of gravel announces an approaching guest. The screen door slaps. Laughter. Crayfish city. Freshwater clams. The ever-present purr of a jet ski. Five minutes of blessed sunshine for every fifty minutes of cloud cover. The slap of waves against the kayak. Cold beer. The company of good friends. Watermelon. S’mores. Sticky faces and hands. An uncomfortably small shower stall. The happy shrieks of children who have made a discovery–perhaps a new friend, an old crustacean, an almost tame flock of ducks. Or maybe it’s the certainty that life, in that moment, is good.

This is Summer.

He crept down the stairs carefully. He had been charged with a mission. His small chest expanded with pride even as he considered the difficult nature of his task.

He padded over to the wall separating the living spaces and peered around the edge of the doorframe.

She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Bothered was seated at the kitchen counter, her brow furrowed and her expression inscrutable.

He took a deep breath. It was time. He entered the room with his head held high.

“Mommy?” he queried, his voice shaking only a little. “S’okay to get up now?”

He watched his mother turn away from the seductive glow of the computer screen. He tensed his body—prepared to flee upstairs in an instant should it be required.

She met his eyes and smiled. “Yes,” she said in a convivial tone, “I think you’ve had a long enough nap.”

Success! He immediately ran to inform his Queen. DSCN1059

“Oh, yay! Nowa! Mommy not gwumpy anymore!”

Nora accepted the news calmly from her seat at the top of the stairs. Nodding her approval, she told him, “Good job, Henry.”

After eating a balanced lunch of Chef Boyardee ravioli, half a PB&J and a handful of strawberries, Henry patted his belly and said, sighing with pleasure, “Now DAT was yummy, Mommy.”

I endeavor to prevent Piggy from joining us on family excursions but my efforts are for naught as Henry tries equally hard to keep Piggy with him at all times.

Piggy is Henry’s first great love.  DSCN1056

When he presses her snout to his nose and gazes adoringly into her black eyes, the rest of the world stops and it is only them — a pig and her boy.

When Henry is hurt, he wants Piggy’s comfort. When he is elated, Piggy helps him celebrate. When he is tired, only Piggy’s snuggles suffice.

And just the other day, we lost her. In a department store.

We were almost at our vehicle when I looked down and realized that Piggy was missing. I stopped dead in my tracks. “Henry, where’s Pig?”

He stared at the cement sidewalk as though she might materialize. Shrugging his shoulders, he mumbled, “I dunno.”

I was disturbed by his blasé reaction. His one-and-only Piggy might never be seen again and his response was to shrug?

Henry’s attitude was casual, at first. But when the porcine puff was nowhere to be found, he began to search the store in earnest. “Mommy! What if we don’ find her?”

Moments later, his worried tone turned gleeful: “Dere she ith! Thee, Mommy, I find her!” He buried his face in her body and cooed.

Driving home, a flash of pink caught my eye. Piggy was hanging out the window; her red and purple ears flapped wildly in the breeze. I yelled for Henry to bring Piggy inside the van.

“But she’th hot!” he protested. “She wathn’t thcared! She liketh it!”

My voice shook with exasperation. “And what if you dropped her? You should be keeping her safe. Let’s not lose her twice in one day!”

Why are we careless with the ones we love?

Piggy may know, but she isn’t telling.

Henry: “My belly aches.”  redschool house

Liam (casually to the table at large): “Maybe he’ll vomit.”

Mary (with a withering look at her eldest son): “Let’s hope not.”

Nora: “What’s vomit?”

Liam: “When you throw up.”

Nora: “Throw up what?”

Liam: “Throw up the food you ate. Also known as puking, hurling, and tossing your cookies.”

I am raising such lovely conversationalists. Looking on the bright side, at least he gave the right definition.

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