the end of summer

I can't believe I'm going to say this; I can't even believe I would think it, but, I think I kinda, sorta, maybe,can'twaitforsummertoend.

I don't mean the good stuff: like sipping a glass of wine with friends out on the patio while the kids splash in the pool; or staying at the beach all day and part of the night; or, eating fried clams, fresh tomatoes and peaches until I can't eat anymore; or enjoying the peace and quiet of the sunporch in the morning.

I mean the other stuff: like spending my entire day off ferrying my kids to their next adventure in New Hampshire, Cape Cod and Nantucket; or not knowing at four o'clock who, or what, I am going to serve for dinner; or heat and humidity that will curl your hair before you even open the bathroom door in the morning. That's what I'm talking about!

I miss summer the way it used to be or, at least, the way I remember it: like when we played "SPUD" with the other kids in the neighborhood until the streetlights came on in the evening; or when all I had to carry to the beach was a shovel and a pail; or when I would have been perfectly fine eating ice cream for dinner; and when, if it got too hot, I just jumped in the pool without a thought to what my hair would look like when I got out!

Maybe what I want is not for summer to end but for it to really begin.