Cool Weather and Summer Vacation

Spring is almost over. I must be one of the few people alive who love the coolness of spring and dislike the heat of summer. Today it is cool; in fact all of May and the beginning of June has been unusually autumnal, and I enjoyed every chilly minute of it while the weather reporters continued to drone on about how sad it was that it wasn't hot. I simply don't understand this way of thinking. My husband says that this is one of the reasons we were drawn together, as he dislikes the heat as well.

It's summer vacation now, even though the weather cries otherwise, and all those lovely spring flowers and fragrant bushes are already dying. I am free of lesson plans and paper grading for several weeks, and I must say it feels good. We're always suffering from what I call "genteel poverty," so we can never really go anywhere on a long summer trip, but it's fun just to wake up in the morning and not have to panic about deadlines, to hunt for socks and school uniforms, to summon up lunches and breakfasts, to make sure everyone is fed and watered and looking polished in about half an hour of chaos.

Summer means I can get up in a leisurely fashion, often much later than I do during the school year because I stay up late reading mysteries, and wander downstairs, where I will undoubtedly find my sons already watching cartoons and eating cereal, they of the perpetual early rising. I keep telling them they should learn the joys of sleeping in, but even at the ages of eleven and seven my children don't have much need for my opinions.

So now it will be time to plan our summer calendar, trying to work in adventures that are both economical and memorable. Although even if we spend the whole summer reading mysteries and watching cartoons (respectively), I think we'll find it to be a healing experience. Especially if it's not hot.