End of School: 2021 Edition

And here we are. I keep having to remind myself this is the end of the second year of COVID-affected school. Last year and this year just sort of blended together into one big mush in my head, as I’m sure it’s turned to mush for most of you. Did we have a summer last year? What month are we in now, anyway? What year is it, exactly?

This morning, I went downstairs and the kids were all still asleep, so I called up to wake Tomas and Daniela up. “Last day of school!”

“That was yesterday, Dad,” Tomas called down to me. Because they’re full remote on Fridays, and they all turned in their computers yesterday, he didn’t have school today, and I didn’t even realize it. Which is about par for the course this year, really.

That said, I realize my kids have had it better than some, and worse than others. We’ve had in-person school for the whole year, even if it was only about half the time each week. It was still miles better than when COVID kicked in during March of last year, and the school decided to keep everyone home and not have any assignments count toward a grade. (I get that kids are supposed to be learning for the love of learning, but how many of you actually believe kids did any work last year once they realized the grades wouldn’t matter?)

What’s on the agenda for the summer? Well, we’re launching things off by going down to stay in Boston this evening and visit with my cousin and her family tomorrow. Tomas is going to be working as a deck assistant at the pool in town until he passes his life guard exam, at which point he’ll start life guarding up a storm. We also have about 50 hours of driving practice still to go with him, so I imagine he’ll be Denisa’s chauffeur whenever possible. Daniela and MC are going to be doing various summer camps and lessons (drama, tennis, swimming), horse riding, and Daniela and Tomas will be back to cello and violin lessons at last.

We have a camping trip planned for the end of July, and we’ll try to get to the beach at least a few times. Denisa is up to her elbows in the garden, and I have . . . work. (The same thing we do every day, Pinky.) I also imagine I’ll have a deadline to revise DON’T GO TO SLEEP once I turn it in the first time and I get feedback from my editor.

On the horizon above everything else looms The Great Kitchen Renovation. Cabinets should arrive at the beginning of August, and that’s when the actual work on the kitchen is slated to begin as well. I’m expecting it to be much less than fun. The kitchen sits in the middle of our house. We’ll likely be without it for well over a month. Nothing says “fun August” like using a hot plate in the bathroom to cook all your meals, right?

But hey, even that will be better than last summer. I think we’re all looking forward to something like normalcy. What are you going to be up to? Maine’s lovely in the summer. Just sayin’ . . .

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