Summer

A "perk" of my job is being able to stay home in the summer. As all of my teacher friends, and my husband know, that is due to many many hours put in outside of the normal school day during the school year. I consider it just cashing in all my overtime I worked throughout the rest of the year that I didn't get any monetary compensation for. I've spent my summers eating lunch with friends, going to concerts, and shopping. Staying up late, and sleeping in. No responsibilities, and freedom to do pretty much anything I felt like. I spent part of one summer on a joyous high because I was pregnant with our child. The summer after that I spent everyday staring at my phone, waiting for it to ring and tell me that a birth mom wanted me to be the mother to her child. I would constantly check the phone, sure that I had somehow missed the ringing and would have a missed call. A message informing me that Travis and I needed to quickly run down to the hospital and pick up our child. I also spent a lot of time sitting outside, catching some rays, and reading. Last summer, on July 9th, we finally got that call. The call that has forever changed my summers from here on out.

 

This summer I am not nearly as tan as I was last year. I haven't even come close to finishing as many books. I often forget to even turn the ringer on my phone on in the morning. (Sorry to all of you whom I have missed calls or texts.) My face is often soaked from wet sloppy kisses. I have been covered in snot and formula. I've spent more time changing diapers than reading books. I've mastered the art of building a block tower, only to have a small hand promptly swipe it down and then laugh hysterically. I've watched a small child learn how to scoot himself across the floor so he can get into every single thing he isn't supposed to get into. I have a wet spot on my face from where a hand that has been in its owner's mouth, will reach up and touch my cheek when I ask, "Where's Mommy?" I've patty-caked and peek-a-booed more times than I can count. I've felt bad daily for that poor little piggy that never gets any roast beef. And I've just sat and held a sad little boy as he gets his first stomach virus and keeps throwing up exorcist style.

 

This summer may not sound nearly as glamorous as summers past, but let me assure you that this summer has been my most favorite summer of my 28 years. I may go to bed at 10:00 because I never know if I am going to get an early morning wake up call from the new head of our household. I'm up every morning by 7:30 so I can prepare a bottle for a child who likes to eat AS SOON as he wakes up. But I get to spend the day with my son. A little boy who can make me laugh daily. Who will scoot off into the kitchen, looking back at me to see if I'm looking, and then when he sees I am, starts laughing and scooting faster, because he knows he isn't supposed to go in there. A boy who will put the burp rag over his own face and just lay on the floor laughing until you notice him and pull it off and say "peek-a-boo". A boy who was worth every single tear I shed before he came into our lives. A boy who was worth the wait and made my summers better than I ever could have imagined.