Summer Ride

The anticipation has been building for all of us -- we are just hours away from entering a theme park, the one we go to every year called Summer Vacation.

I'm looking forward to free time with the kids, road trips and lazy days --the lovely ascension of the roller coaster ride where the scenery is great and it seems the ride is only going to get better. These are days when memories are made. Bike rides and camp outs. Movie nights and swim parties. Softball games in the hot sun and board games in the cool air conditioned kitchen. Popsicles, bar-b-ques, family visitors . . .

But of course, as in all theme parks, there will also be whiny kids, trash to be picked up, sunburns, and vomit that doesn't always make it to the trash can (or toilet, or car window, or the other side of the campground). I know that with seven of us in the home all day, there will be times when the roller coaster ride will feel much too steep and I'll feel like we're all going to fly out of our seats (or off the handle).

Yet still I look forward to it every year. A change of pace, a breather, a time to put our feet up a a little as a family with out the pressures of school. And when the going gets a little rough, I'll try to remember what any good rollercoaster passenger would do: throw my hands up and scream until it's all over.