Those Lazy, Hazey, Crazy Days of Summer

Summer is supposed to be a time of leisure, at least that is what my 17 year old daughter keeps trying to tell me.  Sleeping until noon, spending hours at the pool, hanging out with friends until the wee hours of the morning, thus the need to sleep until noon.  Actually all of this sounds quite attractive to me also, but this little issue of trying to earn a living keeps interrupting my plans for leisure.  And as if that were not enough, our 8 year old son has an internal clock that seems to be in sync with the sun.  He is ready for sleep about the time the sun goes down, 9:00 pm, and is wide awake when the sun comes up, 6:30 am.  Edgar and I find ourselves  awake and waiting to know that the teenager is home and nestled in and then up at the crack of dawn to try and monitor what creative things the boy is up to so early.  We are exhausted; I am ready for more leisure!

It is the second day of July for pity sake, the kids have been home from school for 40 days.  Biblically speaking the number 40 represents testing--it rained for 40 days and nights when Noah was on the ark, the children of Israel wandered in the desert for 40 years, Satan tempted Jesus for 40 days, etc.  Does this mean that beginning tomorrow my testing of trying to be calm, pleasant, encouraging, and supportive while in a state of zombiehood (spell check does not consider that a word, but you know what I mean) will be over and I can just SLEEP?!?!?

Actually I do enjoy having them home for the most part.  I even sneak down to the pool with them occasionally and momentarily forget my many responsibilities awaiting me once I come back to reality, I mean home.  Ryan and I enjoy playing baseball or bowling on the Wii, and Rachel keeps trying to teach me how to play guitar hero, but it is rather futile.

This weekend we do plan to just chill out a little.  Ryan and I are hoping to get everyone up and out of the house so we can enjoy the Parade downtown on Friday and Saturday is the annual cookout/hangout at our neighborhood pool.  There are a couple of Independence Day musical celebrations on TV this week that I hope to view also.  I don't want to ever forget that the reason we can take a few days off and enjoy some leisure time is because of the men and woman who served and died for this country.  We have friends and family members in Iraq right now who will not have leisure time because they are actively protecting our freedom.

What will you be doing this holiday weekend?  Do you have plans to relax and chill out?  How will you honor those who have served and are serving our country to give us this freedom?