Summertime In The Garden

Summer has arrived and with it...parties.  So. many. parties.

I've actually lost count of how many parties we've hosted but I'm pretty sure we are in double digits.

It's been fun.  Super fun.  The kind of fun where I'm dreaming about summer never ever ending...but I know it has to.

Oh well.

We've got a houseful of boys home for the summer...the first summer since 2005 that everyone has lived here.  There's not much space in our little house on our little street...in fact, there's not a whole lot of space at all.  But it's been fun having them all around.  Everyone has crazy work schedules and some of us (mainly that guy that I like so much and me) have a few weeks off, so there's always someone coming and going.  

But I like them.  A lot.  In fact, I like them more and more each day.  It's fun watching them become grown-ups...though I'm still not sleeping well because if it.

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Work.  Sigh.  I have a new position and it's just not an easy place right now.  But as I've been there for awhile now,  I have a different attitude...one of riding a wave.  Ups and downs and moments of feeling like I'm being dragged on the bottom of the ocean while slowly drowning.

So I keep kicking and trying to keep my head above water, one stroke at a time.

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This has also been a summer of friends.  Friends from close by and friends from out of town.  I'm feeling so blessed in that department and I've come to realize how important my friends are to me.  How they love us, how they listen to us, how they hold us accountable.

But mainly, how they laugh with...and at us.

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That guy that I like so much and I celebrated a big anniversary a few weeks ago...our 31st year of being husband and wife.  Thirty one years!  It was a work day for both of us but we both shut things down early and celebrated with a wonderful dinner out...the kind of dinner where we sat at the chefs table and they cooked just for us, based on all the things we liked most of all.

Italy was our big celebration but this was pretty gosh darn special.  We tried to walk through all the years...we remembered a few of them but not as many as we thought, but that's ok because we lived them all and each one was a step along the way to where we are now.

What a gift it is to walk life together.

We made friends along the way in Italy and because of those friendships, we continue to get deliveries.  Fun deliveries.  We've discovered some new to us wines and sadly, we've taken a step up in our price point for what we like most of all.

It's rough...but not really.

And FYI...it pays to know people.

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Mornings have been quiet...coffee and avocado toast seem to be the regular routine...though the avocado's are not (yet) from out tree.  That silly tree is up 50% from last year and by that I mean, we have THREE avocados on that million dollar tree.  

But that's what grocery stores are for...though if you have an abundance of those green jewels growing at your house, keep me in mind.  Please.

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Every evening as the day begins to wind down, it becomes cocktail hour in this house.  The current favorite of mine is an aperol spritz, though a glass of bubbly is always a good choice too.  That whole hour seems to be a good divider between real life and relaxed life and I find myself looking forward to it all day long.  

We play the music just a tad too loud, yell out our windows at our neighbors who are walking by, send a mad amount of texts to those that aren't super close and suddenly, a party is born.  

Summer...I wait all year long for these few weeks of the year.

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My boys are freaks of nature who don't eat junk food, so plate after plate of veggies are what make them happier than anything.  Throw a bit of green goddess dip in the middle and all is well in their world...and mine too.  

Though truth be told, I think anyone who doesn't eat ice cream has to be some sort of alien, so obviously all three of these boys have got to be from outer space.

And then there are the nights where you just think, "I wish I had a hot meal prepared by someone else" and suddenly, it happens.  Not just a hot meal but a meal of epic greatness that you almost weep with joy as you are eating it.  

And not only do you get a hot meal for yourself, but they send you home with enough for one of your boys to eat for lunch the next day and you (gulp) hide it in the fridge so he can't find it.

Oh yes, I did...because I wanted it.

And it was worth every single bite.

The cork bucket that hangs in our kitchen was over flowing and so it had to be emptied and all I could think was how many memories each of those corks hold.  Garden parties and quiet parties and everything in between. 

Ah well...the bucket will fill again.

I'm trying to just settle in to each day.  Coffee in the mornings and a little Jesus time.  Afternoons doing regular life stuff like the never ending laundry and errands.  Evenings bring long dinners in the garden, which is especially beautiful this year.  It's hard to not focus on the things that aren't going as well...a boy who is making us worry, bills that seem to always be there, work that isn't as smooth as we'd like.  But for these few short weeks we are trying super hard to just take lots of deep breaths and relax...and so far, so good.

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