Poolside

When your children are little, it's easy to get them all together and enjoy a day together. As they get older and friends become more of a priority, planning a day for just family can be more challenging. For the first time in quite some time, the five of us were without plans this Sunday. So, after attending Mass this morning and making a quick trip to the grocery store, I gave my family a few options for what we could do with our day. Ultimately, everyone decided they'd like an easy day by Meme and Grampy's pool, a quick half hour trip away. So we called my in-laws and asked if they'd mind our coming over to be poolside for the afternoon. They, of course, did not mind at all. We quickly packed a few snacks and threw our puppy in the van with us. With temperatures in the 90s it was a great day for being in the water.

After some time spent catching up with one another and doing some swimming and floating, we all settled into our books and/or magazines. The puppy roamed around their yard and there we sat in the sun or shade, depending upon our preference. I love Sunday afternoons like that, enjoying the refreshing lake breeze and the comfortable ease of being with family but not feeling a need to fill the time with conversation. A quick run to the corner store to pick up Italian sandwiches (and a small pizza for my son) made for an easy lunch.

We returned home early in the evening, a little pink perhaps but content with that wonderful waterlogged feeling that follows a day spent at the lake or poolside. However, within no time, Sydney headed off to spend the evening with a few friends. Emma sat down at the piano. Paul jumped onto one of the laptops. Eric watched a little tv. Ziva returned to chewing one of her toys underneath my bed where I rested and typed on my laptop. The day together may not have lasted a full 12 hours, but that's okay. And the best thing is, we just might have another day off together tomorrow. Dare I hope? Or am I pushing my luck?

The family. We were a strange little band of characters trudging through life sharing diseases and toothpaste, coveting one another's desserts, hiding shampoo, borrowing money, locking each other out of our rooms, inflicting pain and kissing to heal it in the same instant, loving, laughing, defending, and trying to figure out the common thread that bound us all together. -- Erma Bombeck