End of June, SURPRISE!

HOLY MOLY! It has come to the point where I HAVE to write. Tonight. It is the last day in June, and it must be done. Thing is, the last night in June really snuck up on me. I mean, it was just a week ago that we were a mere day out of school, but tonight, right now, school feels a million miles away. We've even had our first fun of summer, with Devin spending time at Camp Geena and Pa, Gwynn going to an amazing music camp at Ithaca College, and Tim and myself having a rather nice "Staycation" to begin the Summer of our 20th Anniversary. It feels like we've already had a summer, yet summer has only just begun. And those that know me well would also know that the Carpenters song is now playing in my head..."We've only just begun...to live..." Ain't it the truth! Summer...the time that we just. plain. live. So, no guilt. No timelines. No deadlines. Writing wise, for this month at least, this is it. This is all ya get. All I am going to do now is sit back, relax, watch a movie with my family, have some popcorn, and perhaps a beer. I'm gonna stay up too late, and finish yet another book. Maybe I'll even shop online. I'll probably fool around on Facebook, or maybe I will just fool around. Point is that it doesn't really matter one way or another, it is summer, and we have only just begun.

Superglued

They Superglued the sofa. I just laughed out loud again, hearing that. They SUPERGLUED the sofa. And at first I was quite upset, trying to think of how to have it fixed. It's a fairly new sofa after all. There was the threatening that they would be paying for it, the ranting that we apparently can't have anything new, can't keep anything nice. But as I have lived with it for another couple of days, I kind of want to keep it. I kind of like it. It is almost like a family artifact, evidence showing the beginnings of their beginning as a brother/sister team.

How did this happen you might ask? Well, I came home from work on a Thursday thoroughly exhausted after a full day of scoring state tests, and then a full afternoon/evening of meetings for our union contract negotiations. I was in a good mood, as all had gone well, but nonetheless I was tired. Tim had an afterschool doctor's appointment, so he had only been home with the kids for a couple of hours. Yes, there had been a gap of about an hour when the kids were home alone. Dev is 15, Gwynn 12. This is not a problem, it is simply a statement of the situation. After I got home, we all reconnected, then the fun of a typical schoolyear evening began. There were homework arguments to be had, there was dinner to be cleaned up. Lunches needed to be made, showers and next day preperations had to be taken care of. Finally, I sat down with Tim, on the couch, to watch some TV together, and I felt something hard on the cushion. I examined a bit closer to discover a certain tear, another probable hole, and tell tale dog hair.

Devin took the brunt of it at first, since I discovered it after Gwynn was already in bed. He admitted to letting the dog on the sofa, and admitted to the ingenious idea of Superglueing. Still, in all of my ranting, and questioning, he never once mentioned his sister. In fact it wasn't until a couple of days later that she and I were in the living room and I asked her about it. She had full knowledge of what happened, and admitted to being a part of it.

I guess that is what makes me, almost, like the Superglued spot. What makes me choose to switch the center cushion for the one on the end. What makes me flip it over and tuck it in place. They really do love each other, or at least have a bond enough to not throw each other under the bus. Or, perhaps they both just think I am truly as exhaustedly clueless as I truly am, and I really won't notice a surprising number of things. Either way, a friend recently asked what the going rate for a sitter is. I suppose I have a clearer answer, now. I'd say it is somewhere between $5 and $10 dollars an hours, or whatever it costs to reupholster a sofa cushion. You make the choice.