My mother wrote me a couple days to inform me that I had not written a blog post since July 19.  To the naive eye that may seem like just an informative email from a caring mother, but I’ve known my mom my whole life and I know that it was instruction wrapped in a hint and delivered in an email.  And so I am here to write.

Where have I been? Some of you might remember the age old quip, “If you have nothing nice to say don’t say anything at all.”  Others may remember that “no news is good news”.  I would say that I have been running through summer experiencing a nice tension between those two phrases.  We have lived some great days (good news) and had some hard interactions (of which I have nothing nice to say) but all of it has been fast paced.  When there has been a moment to slow down I have found myself face down on the couch or eyes forward watching White Collar or Burn Notice.  Let  me see if I can recall where we left off and I’ll see if I can fill my mom’s need for photos of grandchildren and maybe make others smile in the process.

We spent July 4 with my friend Shelley for the third year (or is it fourth?).  What is shameful and delightful is that I haven’t seen Shelley since last July BUT I overheard the kiddos discussing the upcoming holiday and recounting how we always go to the parade with Ms. Shelley and see the horses and catch candy.  I love that they are old enough to recognize this as “tradition” and that they know Ms. Shelley and love her even when visits are far between.  (Shelley and I have since made a reoccurring monthly date so that last year will not be repeated.)

Here’s a side note that will only interest a few. . . Little and KB have on matching skirts which were bought at two different Gymboree stores in two separate states over a year ago.  I didn’t pay over $6 for either.  They fit both girls at the same time just like I hoped!! Woo Hoo!!! And that morning when I awoke, there was a clean red shirt, clean white shirt, and clean blue shirt! (insert patriotic tune and firework noises here) Basically, I looked like a mom who had it all together when I was just thankful.

We had brunch with Ms. Shelley this year and then walked around the corner to the parade route.We got to our sheets on the curb early which allowed for time to enjoy the taste of Americana (my Canadian friend said, “It was the America we grew up seeing in movies but knew wasn’t real!).  It was a HOT day but we had shade for the first 2/3 of the parade and that was wonderful.

There were several new floats to see and a gazillion political candidates to shake hands – I can’t tell you how many stopped to ask Bubba what happened to his arm.  It’s hard to trust someone who acts like they don’t know the arm is broken!!! There were old favorites as well. . . the vets from the Battle of the Bulge rode by and my eyes filled with tears for the third year.  Then there was the lawn chair brigade. . . residents of one street get together to walk and perform little routines, of sorts, with lawn chairs.  It is my favorite part.

Since we did brunch with Shelley we went on home for lunch.  It was too hot to grill outside. . . plus we have no place to grill outside and so I “grilled” on the counter.

I tried to put together as close to a normal July 4 meal as possible and even laid everything out for the kids to serve their own plates buffet style.  They did NOT know what to think of that. . . spoiled little babies.

Once I walked them through filling their own plates and got them one step closer to leaving home and living independently, we had a picnic in the den on the floor.  Did I mention it was HOT outside? (At this point in the summer we had already experienced 12+ days of temperatures over 105! I can’t find a stat for what it’s been all summer.)

So there you have it.  A taste of what my mom’s been missing.  Hope you all had a fun fourth. . . can you remember it? It’s been an entire MONTH!