This post is not a cry for help - though I can see that it looks like one. It is simply a confession that parenting is hard. Sometimes it even sucks. And I for one am not immune to this. I have one child in the throws of "the Terrible Threes" and another who is completely thrown off by his routine being changed. All of that equals our summer getting off to a rocky start. But that's life I guess. Things can be really good, or really bad, or usually somewhere in between.
I will say that this weekend went a long way to helping me de-stress and feel a bit more sane.
Things started looking up on Thursday when my mother-in-law came to get the boys for a long weekend. They were very excited to head to the lake with Nana, and Wes and I were very excited for the fun weekend we had planned. On Thursday evening I meant my friend Laurel (and her good friend Lisa Davis - not to be confused with my good friend Lisa Davis!) and we headed downtown to the Library Society for a book signing by Dorothea Benton Frank. I have read several of her books and they are always such fun, enjoyable reads, and hearing her speak was exactly like reading one of her books. Fun and enjoyable with plenty of laughs thrown in! My advice is head to the beach sometime this summer and crack open her new book The Last Original Wife.
Friday was a great day for me. I had the whole house to myself and plenty of time to get some stuff done without my two little crazies following me around. By the time Friday evening rolled around I was pumped and ready for a good time. We met up with our friends Todd and Caycee and headed over to Daniel Island to see The Lumineers. Wes and I had been prepping all week by listening to their album, and we were ready to sing along and enjoy the heck out of ourselves.
We missed the opening band but got there just in time to hike all the way to the top of the bleachers find a seat and settle in with some drinks to listen to The Lumineers.
It was a great show! In fact, it was so good that it felt like it only lasted for a bit and all of a sudden they were playing their encore and I was sad it was almost over. Of course, then Caycee and I made friends with an incredibly drunk girl stumbling around the stands AND we snagged the last four funnel cakes on the way out so all was not lost!
Of course, the parking lot was a complete cluster with people trying to get out so when we got back to the car we just pulled down the tailgate to wait it out. We must have been having a lot of really "obvious" fun because some girl stumbled up and asked if she could buy some beer from us. For realz. Hilarious!
All in all it was a fabulous night and just what I needed to pull me out of my funk from the week.
Saturday morning Wes and I packed up the car and headed up to the lake to join the boys. Wes had been itching to get up there and relax at his parent's place and we figured Father's Day weekend was the perfect time for that.
We thoroughly enjoyed seeing all his family and spending time out on the lake. Pops even bought this nifty lounging raft - complete with cooler - that he anchored out off the dock. If I hadn't been afraid of turning into a bright red lobster I would have chilled in that thing all day long. As it was, I spent some time in the raft, but also enjoyed some water skiing and tubing.
My favorite part of the weekend was Sunday morning when Pops, Wes and I took Noah out for his first attempt at water skiing. My overly cautious little boy has turned into quite the adventurous 7 year old and I was so proud as I watched him try to get up on his little skis. He never made it all the way up. I think next time we go he may get it. But, as I watched Wes coaching him in the water as the boat circled around yet again for another attempt, I couldn't help but think that he was learning something even more valuable then getting up on a pair of skis. He was learning that sometimes life is hard and we fall down on our way to our goals. And that the things worth having are the ones that require the most work.
And that made me realize that the same could be said about being a parent. It's rough for sure. But all the hard stuff is worth it to get to be a Mom. And it is especially worth it when you are hanging onto the back of a giant two-person tube with your oldest, flying across the lake and knowing how happy he is because you can actually feel his smile next to you.
So, with that I hitting reset on our summer. Our first two weeks won't count. They were a practice round, and now we are ready to do it right!
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