Chapter 20
June brought the incredibly exciting official end of the school year,
releasing the completely exhausted children from their rigid daily academic routines,
and kicking off the lazy wonderful days of a long hot summer.
The heavy backpacks were carelessly tossed into the dark front closet,
replaced immediately by colorful plastic water guns and badly scuffed sneakers,
and the house was suddenly filled with endless loud daytime energy.
We established a very loose and relaxed summer daily family schedule,
prioritizing creative outdoor play and quiet afternoon indoor reading time,
and completely severely limiting their daily exposure to mindless television shows.
Trevor took them to the local public swimming pool every Tuesday,
teaching young Sam how to confidently dive off the low board,
and watching his incredibly brave daughter conquer the tall fast slide.
They always returned home smelling strongly of harsh chemical chlorine,
with deeply tanned smiling faces and completely exhausted limp little bodies,
and usually fell asleep immediately after eating a massive heavy dinner.
I spent my long quiet afternoons tending carefully to the massive garden,
pulling aggressive stubborn weeds from the rows of tall growing vegetables,
and tying the heavy tomato plants to sturdy wooden support stakes.
The physical work was tiring but incredibly deeply spiritually deeply rewarding,
keeping my aging joints properly lubricated and my busy mind perfectly clear,
and giving me a massive surplus of fresh organic healthy food.
We ate massive fresh salads made entirely from our own backyard,
savoring the incredibly crisp taste of the deeply green lettuce leaves,
and feeling a profound sense of total independence and complete self-sufficiency.
There was no urgent need to frantically escape to an expensive resort,
no secret intense desire to violently flee our current peaceful beautiful reality,
and absolutely no pressure to post fake happy vacation photos online completely.
Our own private shaded backyard was the ultimate luxury summer destination,
offering free endless entertainment and total perfectly quiet absolute deep privacy,
and completely satisfying our very simple newly discovered grounded human needs.
June was a brilliant month of bright sunshine and total childhood freedom,
May you like
setting a perfectly slow and delightfully lazy wonderful summer pace,
and letting our perfectly healed family simply enjoy breathing the warm air.
