End of Summer

S drew a picture the night before his first day of 1st grade. It's
of our wedding day, which he is certain he and L-Girl attended. He said
I looked very handsome and gave me nice big buttons. It's very nice to
see us all together and don't really want to think of a time when we
weren't.
This summer was wonderful and the weather reminded me of the magical
summers when I was a kid. My parents created a world for us and gave
us the freedom to explore it, with a big house filled with antiques
from a time when beauty was in the details. We would go and hunt
through flea markets for treasures to bring home. My dad was always
had something he was working on in the barn; clocks, motorcycles,
cars, a tractor, and anything else that needed to be fixed. As a kid I
thought there was nothing he couldn't do: as an adult I know there
isn't. My mom always had things going on and our big dining table was
the center of activities. Mom was born before the days when people sat
and watched TV for hours and has never really fallen into that
activity - she is a doer not a watcher. If she's reading something
it's to find out what she needs to know to "move on" as she likes to
say. I grew up and tried to emulate the adults of my world with
greater and lesser degrees of success.
I know so much better now how much effort it takes to make a home and
raise children. And, I look back on my life and realize how much I
have taken for granted. How amazing and interesting the people I come
from are; the ones I know and the others who come to me in stories
from earlier days. Their hopes and dreams, and who they are today and
who they were, setting the stage for my life.