Summertime.... and the living's easy...from the words of an old Sublime CD.  Summer 2014 has begun for many kids around the country. I watched the kids play in the creek yesterday and began remembering what summer was like for me. It was about no schedules, no pressure and most of all it was about siblings. Yes, friends came over often. Unrestricted sleepovers because there was no school the next day. Staying up all night until laughter knocked us out cold on the floor. But, really... it was time with my brother when we were young.

  We stayed home all day and ran around outside. We would walk to the convenient store and get slushies. We would lay down in the back of my dad's El Camino as he drove to the Braum's ice cream place. The heat would beat down and burn our bare feet on the concrete. They were wonderful days... of course until we started getting older and friends kept us away. Summers took on a whole new meaning once one of us had a driver's license. There were no more walking together somewhere because we no longer were both stuck as pedestrians. Yes, I would catch rides with him to crash his dates with his high school girlfriend... but summers were different.  At about the age differences that my older two are with the younger.. that's when it shifts. Free time is no longer about playing cards with your little sibling, it's about catching movies with friends and sitting out in the summer night air talking about the boys and girls and the events of the year before and the new hope for the coming days. My kids are at a pivotal point in their childhood. A point where they appreciate the roots of their family yet they are wanting so bad to spread their wings. In this process the youngster who is still wanting to "play" is begging for time while the others want to "hang out" with their friends or in their room with music. He feels held back and alone.

 So, those moments when all three are together and enjoying themselves is a mother's pure bliss. I watched at one point yesterday... sitting in the grassy sidelines with the baby. I witnessed a picture that sums this summer up for the kids. My oldest, heading into high school with hopes and dreams for his future already on the other side of life's creek. My middle... exactly that... in the middle wading to the other side... still a child at heart not yet with plans for her life yet she knows there is more out there. My younger of this set falling behind... closer to me at the edge of the water. Looking on to them and not wanting to be left out. My daughter falls back to help her little brother along. They meet up all together on the other side.

I know my children will grow up as children tend to do during the summer months. I am aware they will drift apart as they continue in that process. As long as they stop and help each other across to the other side of that creek each summer I know it will be a wonderful one full of memories. That's what summertime is for.