Friday, August 12, 2011

August, die she must.


Yes, I do like a lot of Simon & Garfunkel's songs. (Thank or loathe Jared Thompson for introducing me to them in the 7th grade) No, I'm not actually dying. I guess we're all perpetually dying, but this is just a little part of my soul. It happens when summer comes to an end, this year is no exception. I became aware of this when I was a teenager, the end of summer meant aggressive bees & hornets, shorter days, chilly mornings, the return of the "Bubble," and every time I got dumped by a boyfriend, inevitably it happened in August. Why I remember that crap is beyond me.  I've let it go, I just can't seem to forget it.

It was a busy month of July: home repair, parades, birthdays, camping and swim lessons. (Despite having former swim instructors as parents, Riley & Tyler are best at testing the patience of someone else in the water.)

Has no idea that child-labor laws exist.


The "Pipe Paleontologists."





There was a star danced, and under that was I born."
- William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing




















Tyler said, "I'm going to be a Grandpa when I get old, but I'll still be me."  I hope you never change little man.

My favorite part of the summer was a few nights ago.  I was out on the balcony in a recliner watching one of those spectacular electrical storms, the only thing I look forward to at the end of summer here.  My little Riley was snuggled in my lap with her head on my chest, just as we’ve done ever since she was born.  Like her mom, she is most content to watch lightning quietly and listen to the crickets serenade the show in the sky.  She lifted up her head and said to me,
“Momma, I can hear your heart beep (beat).”
“You can huh?”
“Yep, I like it.  It makes me think you’re an angel.”
Sweetheart, it’s been years since someone called me an angel and sadly that complete stranger, whose credibility not withstanding, was most likely trippin’ on acid or high on who knows what, as were a good portion of the other Lollapalooza attendees.

I’m so lucky that both of my children have encountered the real angels that reside around them.  I know I have my own share, some in the form of friends I hold dear to me, some fallen, some come running across the freeway as soon as I’m pulled out from an overturned vehicle, and some so close I don’t even know they are there.  Riley doesn’t realize it yet, but it’s the other way around, she and her brother are my angels.