My Summer Vacation

How I Spent My Summer Vacation

by Oshee

I don't know which part of this summer has been the most exciting for me. I keep thinking, 'the house, the house, it's gotta be the house!'. But then I remember my poor 11 yr old daughter and her relentless coughing. I think back over the 3 yr old's surgery on his poor little broken elbow. And then settle in on both my daughters', 11 yr old and 7 yr old, vomiting onto my mother's floor.

Excitement has rained supreme this summer. I can hardly believe I still have a week and a half before school begins. I wonder what adventure will arrive just in time for the tardy bell.

Five weeks. I think, Five Weeks, would also make a very good title for this essay. Five weeks to the day I have spent with my family living in and sleeping in other people's homes. First, I am overwhelmingly thankful for the kindness of the family that has given my children safe beds (or couches) to sleep on each night. Still, this night, as I look around my own bedroom and my snoring husband, I am even more grateful to be home.

But what is home without a kitchen? Wait, I have a kitchen. It is a big empty room, with fresh dry wall. So what! My refrigerator is in the living room and my range and cabinets are still stored sweetly in their boxes. I have a kitchen, it is even halfway tiled. Ah yes, this is the adventure. The adventure of feeding five hungry children each day with only a bbq, refrigerator and a microwave.

It feels like school just let out. It feels like swimming just began, even though it has just ended. It feels like I'm missing something, missing my summer.

Has it really been five weeks?