Summertime Part I

Summertime. Ah. Here's some song lyrics to stick in your head as you read this post: The links lead you to YouTube videos if you just can't hear these fabulous summer songs in your head without help.

"Summertime,
And the livin' is easy
Fish are jumpin'
And the cotton is high" -Summertime by George Gershwin

Or for a bit more modern flair:

"Summer, summer, summertime
Time to sit back and unwind"  -Summertime by Will Smith

YouTube says Kenny Chesney also has a song "Summertime" but that one just hasn't popped in my head and kept playing like the first two.

Now that you have those lyrics in your head, on with the blog!

A few weeks ago, I realized that this summer has been one of the best that I can remember in my adult life. I've enjoyed spending nearly every evening with my kids, the weather has been great, and we've had some good times and memories made with family and friends. I couldn't figure out just why this summer has been so wonderful. Then I got to thinking back over the last several years and realized why. Here's a short list of what my summers since 2004 have looked like:

2004: Newly married, but living 3 hours apart until end of July. Uncertainty with where we would live prevailed.

2005: Moved, bought a house, new jobs for both of us. Most of the summer was spent working on the house.

2006: Ok, so nothing really stands out here. I spent some time in Atlanta at a training. We both did the Walk for Emmaus. Nothing too stressful though.

2007: PREGNANT with our first child, working full time and finishing our basement on our own. Oh, and hubby switched jobs around the beginning of September so there was some uncertainty in the midst of all that.

2008: BABY! Our son is a December baby, so he was getting more fun and mobile by summertime. This was great. I was still working full time and breastfeeding/pumping. And when he was just five months old I started grad school. That summer, I had an in-person class one or two evenings a week and an online class. My free moments were spent reading chapters and articles and writing papers.

2009: No new babies this summer! But I continued working full time and going to grad school. We also took a trip to Colorado for a family reunion. And just like the previous summer, I continued to have every free moment sucked up by papers, reading and classes.

2010: Working full time and completing my internship requirement for grad school dominated this summer. My class schedule let up a little, but I know we were still busy nearly every moment. That December I finished grad school! Yipee!

2011: This summer was rough. I had started a new job shortly after finishing my MSW. I was now working three twelve-hour shifts, usually getting home after 11 pm. Oh, and BABY #2 came in April. Since I only worked 3 days, I was able to spend more days with my kids but less time with my husband or together as a family. Little Girl came out of the womb stubborn (she still is) and went on several nursing strikes which just leads to frustration and self-esteem blows. That will take up a whole blog post on its own. I also had a somewhat stressful environment at work mostly with one coworker. It just all adds up.

2012: That April, I switched jobs again to more regular hours and better coworkers. I was DONE breastfeeding. (whew!) I thought it would be easy. Then just six weeks after I started that job,around Memorial Day, my husband was let go of his job. What a start to the summer. The next two weeks were filled with anger, uncertainty, feelings of betrayal, frustration, hurt, anger, more anger. Did I mention anger? Anyway, he was able to find his current job which is an excellent fit for him (and us, but again, that's for another post). On July 1 he started commuting an hour each day or staying overnight away from us if he had late meetings. There were some weeks where he would leave on Monday morning and not get home until after bedtime Tuesday and sometimes Wednesday. That sure made me respect single moms...A LOT! We were unsure where we were going to live, if we could sell/rent the house, if I could get a job. UGH!

So let's get back to 2013. New house, new town, new job in a new town for both of us. I have regular hours where I'm home by 5 most nights. Hubby has still had meetings, but they haven't dominated our lives like sometimes. We got our bikes fixed and can go for rides as a family around town to the library, the park, the ball fields for T-Ball. But I think that I'll save the good stuff of Summer 2013 for a new post...this one is getting a little long and you'll want to come back to see the good stuff! I promise it will be much more positive.

Meanwhile, keep on enjoying Summer 2013. It's been a great one around here and I hope it has for you as well.