Top Ten things to love about Summer... as if there is a reason to hate.
10. Its hot. I freeze my ass off for eight months out of the year. Boils me up good. I will not complain. Even if my hair looks like this.
9. Ice cream for breakfast, lunch, or dinner is acceptable as a meal. Top if with fruit and you're balanced. Popsicles for snacks.
8. Laid Back mornings without the frantic search for book bags, shoes, notes, and lunch money.
7. Thunderstorms. I realize that there have been some crazy ones lately, but I love a good pop up storm in the late afternoon.
6. Bonfires, hog roasts, s'mores, corn hole tournaments, festivals, and other things that you can't do during school but can when its still light, 85 degrees and sticky at 10:00 p.m.
5. Outdoor concerts.
4. Tank tops, skirts, and flip flops.
3. Sangria on the porch while the kids chase lightning bugs.
2. Summer swim league, swimming until dark, and napping on an air raft.
As much as I hate my age, I love my age. I've realized in the past few months that my current number is a bitch. And its only going to get worse. See, right now I'm talking to the Hannahs, Tabbys, Nikis, Taylors, and Rowans of the world. Assuming that you all actually read this, which you may... or not. Anyway. The stage you're stuck in right now sucks. It really does. You worry about what to wear, and what not to wear. What so-and-so thinks about you, or doesn't think about you. You have no idea what you want to be, but every idea what you don't want to be, and you're forced to attend hour after hour of school, where you deal with it all while passing classes, sleeping too little, and fighting raging hormones all at the same time. Its bullshit to be honest, but its a stage and its going to get worse before it gets better. But it will get better.
And then there are the Abbeys, the Tabis, the Lakens, and the Aimees of the group. You're beyond the high school drama but stuck in that freedom to do what you want, but you can't really do anything part of life. You know, you're in school, maybe 21, maybe engaged or not, maybe out looking for crazy good fun but you have that responsibility thing going. New bills, and new worries about whether you picked the right major, the right guy, the right outfit for an interview. What if you don't get a job? What if you hate your job? What if you hate your guy? Its also nuts, but in all honesty, you'd rather have that than the high school stuff, right?
So then you graduate and get married. Or not. Have kids. Or not. Get a job. Or not. And all of a sudden there is this number that used to be old. And now its not. Because you don't feel the number, you still feel that number from when you were worried about all the shit going on around you, when you were having fun. Except now you're worried about your kids, your money, your house, your parents, your neighbors, global warming. Except you have all this other crap that you've already conquered under your belt and suddenly you realize, Its not so bad to be that hideous number, because its just a number. You get to play pirates and faeries with your kids and meet Mickey Mouse all over again. You can party like a rock star without fear of being slapped with a MIP charge or puking in your car... hopefully. You can be happy staying in on a Saturday night without the fear that you're a dork, or go read because you like to, and not because you have to.
So here is the truth. I hate my number and the gray hairs that are sneaking in. I don't really like the aging thing, but I love the experience thing. I don't care if I'm a dork anymore. I don't care if the cheerleader thinks I don't wear the right shoes with my shirt because I like what I have. I know the things that matter don't mind, and the things that mind don't matter, and it all comes with that stupid number. In the words of the most annoyingly perfect woman on the planet, Its a good thing. (Kind of.)
Three weeks ago, Miss 8 had a "flea" crawling up her arm. It was a tick.
Two weeks ago Mr. 4 had a "spider" crawling behind his ear. It was a tick.
Last week, blue blankey had a tick. It was a tick.
Then next day I was snuggling Mr. 4 and rubbed my hand over his head only to find a big fat tick stuck to the top of his little blonde head.
After wrestling a four year old "Rainman" to the ground, I got the tick out. We went back to snuggling and found another attached to the inside of his ear. ::headdesk::
I was still exhausted from the first wrestling match so I came up with a plan. Here are my step by step directions on how to removed creepy crawly blood sucking bugs from your child's head, ear, butt, toes, armpit or wherever else they like to hide.
1. Headlock said child.
2. As calmly as possible and without laughing at the Rainman routine, take screaming parasite host to the bathroom to show them the bug. They will stop crying and stare in amazement.
3. Grab your collection of nail polish. If you don't have any, get some in ever color. SHOP AVON
4. This is when you need to point out the ugliness of the tick. They suck blood, but instead of sparkling and hard to kill, they just crawl and are ugly brown, and hard to kill.
5. As ticks are indeed ugly little buggers, they will die if we make them pretty. This is when your kid gets to pick the deadliest, prettiest color which may very well be black if you are a four year old boy.
6. Paint the tick. Every single part of it. It'll suffocate out of sheer beauty. *And lack of oxygen.*
7. Gently run your figure over the now detached, and dead tick. No pulling, no screaming, no black eyes or wrestling.
They are everywhere this year in Indiana. I hope you have your SSS Bug Guard or your off and that you check your head and your kids because EWWW. They are nasty and Lime Lyme Disease sucks!
