summer. breathe in. breathe out.

am in the land of sunshine and smiles (aka san diego.)
am happy as can be.
am soaking in time with my boys.
and relishing in moments with mom and dad and fam.
am trying hard to relax.
am breathing deep.
am getting some good old fashioned vitamin d
and hoping to be filled with enough ocean air to last until november.
am missing my other half.
a lot.
am hoping for disneyland, the zoo etc.
but also wanting to just chill.
am working on recognizing the joy in motherhood
and storing away the smell of sunscreen on babies
and the pitter-patter of pride when old friends tell me my children are beautiful.
am grateful for a chance to recharge
and excited for this shift in perspective.
no orders. no appointments. no deadlines.
just me and my boys.
ahhhh.....

“The biggest mistake I made [as a parent] is the one that most of us make. . . . I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of [my three children] sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages six, four, and one. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less”(Anna Quindlen, Loud and Clear [2004], 10–11).