"Go outside & play!"

Once again, I have realized that I have become my mother. It's summer, my kids are on break, and I find myself constantly shooing them outside. We argue back & forth, I say things like, "because I said so", or "Yes, there ARE things to do", and my favorite: "No I am NOT being unreasonable!" We live in Hawaii, for crying out loud (there's my mother again!), why is it such a chore to go play outside?!

Well, at least I have figured out that I can make them eat outside. I'm like the Pied Piper, I carry the food outside and they follow. And then something pretty cool happens. A bowl of summer cherries turns into a ruckus, funny contest to see who can spit more seeds into the bowl. When I sneak back inside to finish dinner, they slowly trickle back in & attempt to turn on the T.V. & provide me more opportunities to say those motherly "Don't-make-me...." warnings.

But then when we gather around the outside table for dinner, the chatter turns to having a bonfire & making s'mores, which we do as the sun sets, the stars come out and we settle around the fire pit talking about our favorite memories.

Later that night, my hair still smelling of smoke, I find myself in a moment of gratitude for the things of summer; a sweet bowl of cherries, gooey s'mores, the silly sweetness of my kid's faces in the firelight, and the wise words of my mother shooing us all outside to breathe in the summer air.