Summer Lightning and Corn-Shucking Memories

When all goes well during the week, my midway point will have the kitchen looking like this...



It hardly ever happens, but tonight, the planets have aligned. There are candles. And the countertops are so clean and reflective, I can apply my lipgloss in them. And instead of day-old Shepherds Pie, it smells like Capri Fig Frangiapani.

Oh, there's so much I could blurt out here on this little space of mine. So much enjoyment of life and all these little thoughts I've had here and there that I wish I could have the time to pencil them down at any given moment in one of my beautiful journals. And then those birds. Those damn birds that were singing so loudly in the middle of the night, I swear there was some aviary audition for Chorus Line in the woods. I'm all for enjoying the small things but last night I wanted to chuck something out there to make them go to sleep. Seriously.

Summer continues to unravel with all its color and splendor and this week, the "release" of all my friends from their teaching demands means for the next three months, we can huddle together whenever we want for morning coffee and waffles, waterpark afternoons, library breaks and pool dates.

Today, they gathered at our house and we mamas talked and laughed and made fun of Stephanie's razor burn while the littles jumped into blue ripples of refreshment and showed off their swimmin' styles.











Lainey kept waitin' for her friends all morning, so excited they were coming. "My lotsa lotsa friends comin'," she said.

And these three?



They're pure trouble when their mischievous minds collide. Today, it was Q-tips. About a hundred of them, scattered across the wood floor. I like a little trouble. Keeps it interesting.

And then there's this mess of love that happens when the mamas relax on the floor while the kids are wrecking havoc on toys and books and piles of snacks that have placed for them on little tables. We all swap babies and lay kisses and catch up. It's just lovely.







And about a hundred billion times, it gets brought up that So-and-so's just getting so big and Where does time go and My, it seems like just yesterday they were born. I just love the people of my Village.

****************************************************************

And, what I'm loving about summer right now...

When, mid-afternoon, the sky splits thunder and the clouds grow dark and cold rains come in to cool the sidewalks. And I drink it all in from the quilted chair by the window where I feed Nella who's so sleepy all she needs is a two-minute snack pack and the accompanying cozy rains to lull her into an afternoon nap.




And evening post-rain walks where the big sister pushes the little sister...





...and sometimes doesn't make it very far before she kinda loses it in front of the neighbors, dropping to the cement, kicking off her boots and yelling at Latte who has jumped out of the stroller to take a poop in someone else's yard. Love it when that happens.



And Hibiscus in full bloom...



My little cue-ball whose tiny head bobs beautifully from behind her new adventure...the exersaucer.




(And to those who have asked, physical therapy is going SO good!)


Watching my three-year-old enjoy summer like never before. When did it happen? When did she become a girl? A lanky little willow who marches to the beat of her own drum, says "No, Thank You," reminds me to take my vitamins, loves to pour her own milk and still opens the door after her nap, finds me with her eyes and then runs with everything she has to jump into my arms and burrow into my neck. Oh, I love her.







Swoon.


One of my favorite summer memories was visiting my grandma's farmhouse as a kid. It was quaint and rustic with a walk-around porch that stretched around its perimeter where an old rusted porch swing hung. My grandma taught me how to shuck corn on that swing and we'd spend hours peeling off husks, throwing the scraps to the ground and marveling at the satisfaction of the golden kernels that were hidden underneath.

Actually, I just made that story up. I never shucked a single corn with my grandma and she sure as hell didn't live in a farmhouse. Made for a great summer story though. Oh, she did have a porch swing.

The real truth is, I like the word "shucked" and I wanted to throw it around a bit. While I might not have shucked a lot as a kid, I thought Lainey might enjoy some good summer corn shucking sans porch swing. And she did. Stretched out in our driveway, and how was that I put it? Oh yes...throwing scraps to the ground and marveling at the satisfaction of the golden kernels hidden underneath.





A summer without corn is like a wedding without dancing.

And don't get me started on watermelon.



My girl ate three pieces this afternoon and if watching her tear it apart, its pink sticky juice trickling everywhere, isnt' enjoying the small things, then I don't know what is. Well, maybe shucking corn with your grandma. Or listening to a bird choir in the middle of the night.

Regardless, it was so very summer and ought to be repeated thrice weekly if you ask me.







I keep scrolling back up to look at those...love how very summer they are. Now, if I could just find the perfect shade of nail polish to match that watermelon, then we could just take that summer list of mine, ball it up and pitch it because my summer quests would peak out right there.

And, this is slightly off topic but something I've been meaning to say for quite some time. And it goes something like this...

Thank you.

Thank you every one of you for your comments, your e-mails, your support, your readership, the beautiful kind things you have said and done and for finding it worthwhile to celebrate the amazing beautiful things of life with us. This blog has opened up a lot of great opportunities for me but it's still just the place I go to put it all down...all this wonderfulness of life. And sometimes I forget that "Down syndrome" is what kind of propeled all this because, in my mind, it's such a tiny part of our life now. Because it doesn't change the bigger things of life. It doesn't change any bit of the happiness we have as a family...or our future together. And celebrating all that we love here on this blog and being supported by such an amazing community of people has played a magnificent role in changing me as a person...allowing me to live through this as beautifully as possible. And I'll never forget that so much healing came from the very beginning when lovely "strangers" reminded me that it's all okay.







So, thank you for that. Thank you for loving life and so vibrantly embracing it all with me. It inspires me.



And, I guess that's all.

Oh, that and the fact that it's magic outside right now. Rumbling thunder and a purple sky that keeps igniting with light...and there's a movie humming in the background, I can hear the pop-pop-pop of Orville Redenbacher in the microwave, the biggest little is curled up on the couch and the littlest little is all jammied up and humming sweet sing-songey coos, attempting to put herself to sleep. She needs a mama.

So, goodnight.