Last summer, I dreaded every day. It was too hot. I had no energy. The kids were too noisy and watched too much television. I pretty much hated every moment of last summer. In 2013, from the first day off, I had a countdown going for when they would go back to school. Seventy-six days and counting was my familiar refrain. With the number of days changing, of course.

I was very worried that this year would go much in the same way, and I was quite surprised at how well it went; not just that it went well, but that the kids had fun, I had fun, and I spent more days happy and content (for the most part) than not.

When the kids would ask me at various times during this summer when school was starting up again, I had to look at a calendar; I did not have it memorized and I wasn’t counting down the hours. Even they were surprised by my lack of knowledge.

Here in our section of the US, the students in the elementary schools are let out the last week of June. Camps and Summer Recreation programs don’t typically start until after the 4th of July holiday and they are expected back at school on the Wednesday or Thursday after Labor Day. This is usually about seventy-seven days.

In 2014, summer vacation was seventy days. Perhaps it was knowing that summer was ending a full week earlier than usual, but it started pretty well, and kept going that way. I could feel the difference. Part of that, I know, was my medication doing its thing, my continuing to focus on my coping and walking away when something was too much. I also asked for help. The kids were also a year older, which seemed to make a tiny bit of difference also.

With no summer school for anyone this year, the 4th of July was our first item on our summer to do list.

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