Summer Days with Grands

“Summer, Summer, Summer. It sweeps up over your soul like a slow wave and feeds you on sunshine, watermelon, corn on the cob, and fresh tomatoes and then quite, Suddenly it is gone.”

In summer the grandkids come and we have suddenly not enough room at the dinner table, not enough bread and milk, not enough beds, not enough towels. Suddenly there are little people things everywhere, toys, games, books, art supplies, and dirty clothes. Suddenly there are too many dishes for the dishwasher, too many lights left on, too many house flies and too many fingerprints on windows and door facings.

In summer the grandkids arrive and Suddenly the house is brimming again with voices and laughter and fun and family. Suddenly there are mud tracks across the floor and buckets of tadpoles turning into sudden frogs on the back porch. Suddenly the side walk is decorated with colored chalk, Suddenly the cats are missing—gone to hide out from all the unwanted attention and noise. Suddenly there is giggling at night, a few fist fights, myriad swimming time pleas and a lot of sunscreen going on. Suddenly there are empty spaces on pantry shelves and lots of I’m hungry agains.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

In summer the garden struggles, thrives, bears, and wans in the heat of August. The swings hang heavy, breezes slow, flies drone, mosquitos bite. The firewood stack sits waiting and it seems somehow preposterous that we would ever want a fire in the woodstove, hot soup or a comforter on the bed.

In summer the water in the pool heats up like bath water and is almost not refreshing but of an evening it cools down with the passing of a thunderstorm and fills itself again to the brim. Lightning flashes in the distance and rumbling disappears with the night. Cicadas hatch and leave behind shells of themselves and fly off on noisy thrumming green florescent wings.

In summer we find time to stop in the heat and laze our time away. We find time for grilling hamburgers and we find time for reading and swimming and visiting and dreaming and healing. We find time for friends and time for neighbors and time for sitting on the rail fence and watching the sky. We find time to stroll through the woods and time to wonder and sing and hum and eat ice cream and stay up late.

In summer the leaves become dry and begin to turn and flutter to the ground like letters for summer as cooler winds blow. Suddenly pumpkins appear on porches and suddenly bonfires dot the yards where leaves are piled to burn and branches gathered for fuel. Suddenly flowerbeds boast chrysanthemums in oranges, reds, and purples. Then somewhere a school bus motor starts up and school bells ring and children gather and suddenly, quite suddenly summer is gone.

---

While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.

Genesis 8:22 NASB

---