Like Sands Through an Hour Glass, these are the Days of Our Summer

Today is the end of July and it’s the last working day of the month so it’s payday—yeah! Tomorrow is the first of August, the last holiday month of the summer—boo! I have a bittersweet relationship with August. While I love the fact that it is still nice weather and the first fruits of the harvest are being reaped, I feel the sands of summer trickling through the hour glass of my time away from school.

Now is the time for thoughtful parents to prepare for their children to return to school. Me, too. September can be an extremely expensive month with the purchase of supplies, clothes, shoes, backpacks, emergency packs, and pictures. When mine were going to school they also sold insurance in Fall. I don’t know if they still do that. I never availed myself of that which I purchased, but I guess it bought some peace of mind for me. I remember September as being a month where the money just flew out of my wallet. Nowadays if you’ve a child in high school you also have to pony up for a graphing calculator which in all likelihood your child will never use after fulfilling their math requirement and you will not know how to use for that garage sale because the thing is too complicated.

If you aren’t sending a child or grandchild back to school, remember those low-income children who do not want to arrive on the first day in last year’s things and no supplies. There are always donation bins at banks and grocery stores where you can put in a package of paper or box of pencils that will be greatly appreciated.

If interested in my thoughts on August, read more.

The Rose-of-Sharon is in Bloom

The Rose-of-Sharon was in bloom when I returned to Gig Harbor from my summer in Ilwaco. That can only mean that school is about to start bringing with it new faces of students and staff, a new schedule, new challenges.

When I still had four school-age children, back-to-school meant laying out a lot of cash. I was sorry to see my young ones go off to spend the bulk of their day with someone else and as a mostly single mom my pocketbook was wrung out to pay for all the things on the lists sent home by the school district (including graphing calculators that they never needed again) as well as the school insurance and the school photographs. Back-to-school clothes were mostly purchased at thrift stores of one variety or another, the only way we could squeak through the month with food. All the syllabi sent home from teachers requiring signatures! It was hard to keep track of which child was taking which classes and wending my way around school on back-to-school night was something akin to Alice chasing the White Rabbit.

Although three weeks remain of summer, Labor Day always seems to herald Autumn, my favorite season. And yet, I feel somewhat cheated by the summer we had this year. The blackberries did not ripen in time for a pie at the beach this year and there was not as much porch time as I would have liked. Still, I must admit to excitement of all that Autumn brings with her: harvest vegetables (if they ever ripen), crock-pot soups and Mother Nature’s storms (though not so violent as that of the last two Decembers, please!) and making plans for the Fall holidays.

The lazy days of summer, if such ever existed, are dwindling. Already my grandson is anticipating Halloween, our family’s favorite holiday. What are you sorry to see leave with Summer and what do you look forward to as we transition into Fall? My most anticipated occasion is the eminent arrival of the newest member of our family, a little girl due November 2nd!