It is hot here.
Most days, it is too hot to walk Auggie during the day.
This morning I woke up and we walked down to the neighborhood park early before the temperature broke 90 degrees. We were still both sweating, tongues hanging out, by the time we got back home.
Usually we go at night, when the sky is dark and the heat pulsing around us feels more like a blanket than a weapon.
We are adaptable, he and I. But when I put his leash on and we head out into the dark heat, he looks dolefully up at me for a beat. “Really?”
Don’t worry, I tell him, it won’t be like this forever. Right now it is summer. But it never lasts.
I know from experience.
Ethan leaves for volleyball camp in the morning. Most days he sleeps for half of it and plays video games for the other half. Which is exactly how I think it should be. During the school year, I don’t know anyone who works harder than him. Right now though, it is summer.
Savannah currently has two jobs. She starts early and ends late, swapping out her name tag somewhere in the middle for the next shift. Which is exactly how I think it should be. She will start at BYU in a little over month and the nice way to say it is that neither of us can wait for that to happen. Right now though, it is still summer.
Olivia is nannying and babysitting and doing odd jobs for me, doing whatever she can do to string a few dollars together before she heads to China. Which is as strange to me as it is to you. She will leave to live somewhere in China (actual location still unknown!) in less than a month and most of the time I think I’m making it all up. Right now, though, it is still summer.
Caleb is working hard cleaning dorms and making the most of summer in Utah. He is my long distance workout buddy and is pushing the weights, setting personal records in the mile run, and summoning the courage to ask cute girls on dates. Which is, happily, exactly how he wants it to be. His challenging course load resumes in a month. Right now, though, it is summer.
I find myself in the strange position of wishing that summer was over and also that it would last forever. In many ways it has been the hardest summer I have ever had. And yet, it’s still summer. Which is always the best time of year.
David reminded me yesterday that in five weeks my life will look completely different than it does now. I didn’t know whether to be happy or sad about that.
Right now though, it is summer.