July 4, 2008
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My family are all at the beach for the annual, fourth-of-July bash that started yesterday and will go through Sunday. Right about now they (the girls and their fifteen friends) will be getting in costume, while the grownups take the chairs downtown. The kids will be checking in after the parade. They love to tell me what a bitch the new wife is and how different the deck is and how weird her kids are. The new wife’s mother will be there but Henry’s mother has opted out this year, a first. I should call her so we can commiserate.
Being diligent about trying to focus on what I have and not what I have lost, I went down my front steps, down to the river, in the heat. I admired my neighbor’s gardens, stopping to let the pale, yellow petals brush my lips, being grateful that these old houses still have roses with scent. Even better was the house with no flowers. They had a sprinkler like the ones my kids ran through. I waited for the cold spray to shock my knees and remembered when I was eight and all I needed was a popsickle.
Enjoy your holiday,
Prudy
Comments (4)
Not ever living around my kids’ dad I’ve not had to deal with this situation much. Summers when they’d be visiting him it was always over the 4th of July so I do have that little memory of them being with him and not me. Now a days I’m just pleased to have them near enough that we can share what ever time they chose to have with me…
I always got a kick out of the stories of the ex’s wife as well…she was a raving lunatic…literally…marilyn
…a grape popsicle.
I like your scene. It’s calming to me. Of course I preferred the candy over the cold treats, but they were all I needed around 8 too.
Speaking of which, I know several people who aren’t into the sweets and really, I don’t eat them much. But they sue did bring back memories and I had to get some. But then I sent almost every piece to my sisters.
I think I just wanted the memories.