We have four weeks of summer left.
Four weeks.
Which is still a long time in the whole scheme of things but I know I’m going to blink and it will be time to set the alarm again.
There are all these little warnings that it’s almost here. Caroline has soccer practice every night this week and that makes it feel like the real world again. We have some place we have to be at a certain time again. Granted, that time is 6:00 p.m. and doesn’t require an alarm, but it does make us have to rethink long days at the pool.
And then we accidentally went shopping for school supplies on Sunday.
I didn’t mean for it to happen. But we were in Target and I had the list and, well, one thing led to another and we ended up with a cart full of notebook paper and six dozen sharpened Ticonderoga #2 pencils and a three-ring binder. Forgive me, summer, for I have sinned.
Honestly, when I realized I’d missed the cut off date to order the pack of school supplies from the PTO I wanted to gnaw my arm off because, in the past, school supply shopping tends to take a sweet forever and involves me having to say NO multiples of times to extraneous things like a pink fur trimmed mirror for the locker she doesn’t even have in elementary school.
But this time it went so well. She only wanted plain notebooks in solid colors. She didn’t attempt a Crayola upgrade in the form of the 48 count markers with built-in glitter. We stuck to the list. Mostly. I mean I’m not an ogre. There are some erasers shaped like fruits and Sharpies in all the colors. Truth be told, I love a Sharpie so that might have been an easy sell.
We also bought two swimsuits at 50% off, a pair of camo shorts and new goggles. So I felt like we struck a good balance between summer frivolity and back to school practicality.
Then yesterday we drove out to Nordstrom because Caroline has had her eye on these Nike tennis shoes and they’re on sale right now. But once she actually tried them on she wasn’t a fan. However, we made our way to the clothing department where she picked out a few shirts to try on and then announced that she wanted me to wait outside the dressing room so she could come out and show me.
And that’s where I still am twenty-four hours later.
I am the Rip Van Winkle of the mall.
It was nice knowing all of you.
Not really. But that’s how it felt. For the love of all textiles, how long does it take to button a few buttons? It was excruciating.
After we left, I insisted we make a brief stop by Zara to check out their sale. And I found a top I’d been wanting on sale for $15. I mean it was legitimately only $15 without rounding down or anything. I felt so good about my economical top that I ventured into Free People to try on a shirt I’d seen online and I was thrilled that it wasn’t nearly as cute in person. Now I am free to quit thinking about it. I’m a free person from Free People.
And then we drove through Chick-Fil-A. And went to soccer practice. And then I met a group of girlfriends for dinner. You have no idea how much I wish I could make this all sound more exciting than it actually was.
But that’s summer.
And I plan to enjoy it fully for the next four weeks.