Every Little Thing by April Jeppson

 

And just like that, we only have a few days left of school. I’m pretty sure three weeks ago we had snow on the ground. Last week, it rained for three days straight. This week I wore shorts for the first time all year, and now, all of sudden, school’s almost done.

This weather has been tricking me into thinking summer is farther away than it really is. I have these grandiose plans for when school’s out. The adventures, projects, a garden perhaps? But this is not the time for lofty goals and daydreams. I need to whip out a spread sheet, calculator and a calendar and whatever else makes it look like I’m solidifying my ideas and get to work.

One simply does not say, 
“Oh, I want to take the kids to a water park this summer,” and then actually take said kids to a water park. There are hours of googling, asking friends for suggestions on Facebook and then number crunching to see if it’s a trip that we can swing this year. If this is something I actually want to do with my family, I need to get to work behind the scenes now.

I normally plant my garden right around Mother’s Day. As it stands, I have zero plants or seeds in my possession and a plot of untilled weeds in my backyard. It was too cold, then it was too wet. The sporadic nice days we did have were filled with me working and not prepping my soil. Perhaps my lack of a plan has chosen for me whether I’ll garden or shop the farmers market this year.

My children normally take turns staying with my folks up north for a few days each summer. Between trips my parents are taking, trips my family is taking, work schedules and whether I really want to spend all day on a Friday picking up and dropping off kids, sometimes this is a logistical nightmare, sometimes it’s fluid. I’m hoping this is a fluid year because my mother and I have barely discussed it.

The thing that really made me go “Whoa, summer is almost here” was the end-of-the-year gift I received from one of my gymnasts. Let me preface, as a coach I do not expect gifts. I’m not going to lie, though. At Christmas or this time of year, it is really fun to receive a gift or a handwritten card from a student. Honestly, it’s fun anytime of year.

A few weeks ago I received a necklace from one of my students. She used beads that spelled out my name and made it special for me. Her mother didn’t even know about it. Occasionally, I will get a picture one of my students drew. This week I received handwritten thank you cards from a sweet family I have the privilege of teaching — I think my heart doubled in size.

So here I am, driving home from work all big-eyed and weepy because I feel so much love. Pulling into my driveway, I see that I really need to buy about 15 bags of mulch. Oh my goodness, when did my grass get so tall? I need to stain my deck. Oh shoot, some of this paint on my door is chipping, I should really get to that.

But first, let me look up some stuff on water parks.

Albert Lean April Jeppson is a wife, mom, coach and encourager of dreams.