How I Spent My Summer Vacation

Sometimes, I really ask myself why I blog.  I don't stop in here nearly enough, I don't travel other blogs enough to generate traffic and frankly, I don't flatter myself to think that many people would find my mundane life very interesting.  On the other hand, for me, it's like a quick way to keep a scrapbook and feel like I am actually doing something with my life.  So, if there is anyone lurking around here, I'm back.  If not, oh well, writing is fun anyway.

I'm a teacher and last Friday, I began my summer off.  It's so wonderful.  I enjoy my job but I also love being home with my family.  It's been a tough year and I have been paying the penalty for saying yes to too many things.  I don't want to let anyone down so I have been letting myself down with not enough sleep, not enough exercise and just plain exhaustion.  These two months, I plan to slow down and to savour.

If that plan for the summer wasn't firmly enough in my brain, I got a sound wake-up call.  On Saturday, a woman from our church, a 53 year old, teacher/mother/elder/homemaker/uber-committed, uber-caring woman died of a heart attack.  On Tuesday, she had been diagnosed with paracarditis (an inflamation of the sac around the heart) and sent home with strict instructions to rest and that it would clear up.  She had terrible chest pains on Friday night around 11:30, she was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance and had a massive heart attack on the way and died upon arrival.  Everyone at church is in shock.  She had attended her daughter's high school grad on Wednesday evening and her son is getting married, this summer, I think.  We are all stunned and feeling the loss.  It's such a stark reminder that life is short and today has to be what matters.  I plan to use my blog this summer to capture the pleasures of each day and at the end of the summer, to have evidence of time well-spent.

Saturday - Farmer's Market - our favourite place to buy food.  We visited live animals (which I did not reveal to the kids were probably going to be a meal soon), bought oodles of local produce, homemade sausage and local maple syrup.  Our meals have been wonderful and fresh ever since.  We plan to make this a weekly tradition this summer.  The rest of the day was spent at the splash pad and puddling around the house doing jobs.

It would seem that they want to take up fencing.  Another great pleasure of mine is watching them as their friendship deepens.  With Pk at school, I have felt a bit like they were drifting apart a bit.  Over the last few days, they have played and played and played.  It's wonderful and I hope they can maintain their friendship into adulthood.

Sunday - church (which was rather bleak since everyone was in shock) and then M's annual Canada Day barbecue and fireworks.  It was so much fun.  I got to be silly on a theme and we saw fireworks and roasted marshmallows over a fire.  It was exactly how I want to spend Canada Day!

Monday - down to the city to visit my parents and brother.  There's the best wading pool and we all enjoyed it!  Up here, we live in the land of the splashpad so it's nice to see a real wading pool!