Giving My Dreams Their Wings: A Heart of Stone and a Potty of Poop

The last time I had a summer off was 1989. I was 14 years old and I didn't have a care in the world. School was out for the summer and I was too young to have a job. That left me plenty of time to do a whole lot of nothing much. My friends and I hung out at the pool and at each others houses. We stayed up way too late and slept in way too often. We spent Friday nights at the Skate Ranch and lots of afternoons at the mall. Welcome to the Jungle, Paradise City, and Like a Prayer were playing on the radio and our evenings were spent at the movie theater watching Batman, Back to the Future II and Heathers.

Ahh, those were the good days. Or so I thought.

Twenty one years later I finally got another summer off. No school, no work, just plenty of time to enjoy the summer. But this summer was so much better because I got to share it with my amazing little people. This summer I hung out at the pool again but I wasn't boy watching, I was watching a boy...my boy. I was teaching Wilson to swim. He not only learned to swim, he also learned to dive and to do several impressive tricks off the diving board. Not bad for a 5 year old. We also stayed up late. I think I made it all the way to 11:00pm one night. Certainly not the late nights of my youth but chasing after two small children really wears you out. Our Friday nights were filled with movies and icecream and popcicles on the porch. We loved Toy Story 3, Dispicable Me, and Shrek Forever After. There were lots of trips out to the mall to enjoy story time at Barnes &Noble and afternoons at the playground. We went to Science Spectrum and the library. Wilson went with his grandparents and cousins to Red River on his first out of town trip without his mommy and daddy and in June my baby girl turned 2 years old!

When I was 14 I thought a perfect summer was sitting around with my friends counting the days until we got our drivers license and anxiously awaiting the start of High School. Now my idea of a perfect summer is a little different. A perfect summer is one where your 2 year old easily potty trains herself. A perfect summer is having a little boy who returns from vacation with his grandparents holding a rock he found for you that is in the shape of a heart. This summer I found true happiness. Happiness is a heart of stone and a potty of poop.