For a brief but fabulous twenty-four hours, we were all together! We squeezed in a whole lot of summer, and plenty of stories, and snuggles too (and oh did I sleep so well with everyone tucked in exactly where they belong!). And then just as quickly, another one was out the door, as Ezra began his stretch at summer camp for a few weeks.
I'd like for it to slow down just a little bit, and it will to an extent, come fall-time. No one has planned a trip in at least the coming calendar year of as great a length as Calvin's big one to Europe just was. There are oh so many whole family dinners to still be had, and I intend to fully enjoy those now, having had a taste of the absence of them. But, in the bigger picture, things are decidedly not slowing down. Having seen his big brother enjoy it so much, Ezra has his eyes on a sophomore exchange as well, and I noticed that he's been counting down the months until he can get his driver's permit. And then there are the college visits that my oldest has begun plotting out for the year ahead, all of them a plane ride (or two) away. And I find myself feeling like a lunatic as inside I say to myself, "But why do you have to go so far?" and then hearing myself say aloud, "Yes, go!"
Annabel has told us repeatedly that she's never going to live anywhere but with us, and in no room but her bedroom. I've heard this before, from four certain six-year-olds before her, but still - and just like them before her - it's music to my ears, and I believe her.
(Full disclosure - that photo of the five of them, plus Greta, took a little bit of bribery and maybe even a harmless threat. I don't regret it.)
