Weekend Journal

Well, July is done. Jonah’s Fancy Camp is finished with a giant group hug amongst best pals. Ian’s summer school ended with sobby notes from his therapists and glee from the boy. Trips to the campus are done with a rough draft in hand. And now, August is here with three lazy weeks and a one week adventure.

Official laziness began yesterday. Steve took the boys on an afternoon hike, and I ignored the debris from the previous night’s party and read Harry Potter for hours on the front porch.

It’s 10:00 now and I think one of the boys is clothed. The other is padding around in a nightshirt. We’ll go off to the swim club in an hour though I’m bracing myself for a confrontation with the Fat Cow.

Last week, after an afternoon of romping through the long grass of my sister’s backyard, we became covered with mosquito bites. Ian with his fair sweet skin was the worst off. He was sent to the school nurse the next day, because the teacher thought he had chicken pox. All was explained, but the chicken pox on the back thing stuck in Ian’s brain. So, when the Fat Cow accosted him in the baby pool and asked him what those marks on his back were. He replied, "chicken pox." Later, she got in Steve’s face, and, even after he explained things to her, she called us "disgusting people." I’m half hoping/half dreading running into Fat Cow today.

We’re heading to North Carolina when Steve comes home from work on Friday. We’ll probably make it Baltimore and then his folk’s beach house very late on Saturday. We’ll be there for three days and then we’re heading back up to Virginia. We’re staying at this lodge for three nights. We’ll be off the grid and without the things that in Ian’s brain equals a hotel. No AC, cable TV, cell phone reception, pool, game room, playground. This will either the best vacation ever or the worst.   

It’s a beautiful clear day — sunny and no humidity. It’s a day that shouldn’t be squandered indoors. I really must pack the pool bag. Well, just another fifty pages of Potter.