Another day in the suburbs

Honest to Gawd, I think summer vacation is making my brains evaporate.  It’s not just the endless small interruptions and tasks.  Those are fixtures in my life.  Nor is it the fact that the kids and their friends are around non-stop.  Indeed, having the friends around is a good thing, because they engage with each other, rather than nudniking me.

The problem for me is the irregular schedule.  One of the things I love about the school year is the rhythm of life.  There’s their time and my time.  The blurring of those times during the summer befuddles me.

This befuddlement means that, at almost 11:00, I’m still trying to read the news.  The phone’s been ringing, the repair man has come and gone, the kids have been nagged (or, should I say, politely reminded) to do this and that, the errands are lined up, and my brain is functioning like an old 33 rpm record played at 16 — very, very slowly.

Incidentally, I’ve given up trying to explain to my kids the whole 16, 33 and 78 rpm thing.  They just don’t get the principle, so the analogies inevitably fail.

Anyhoo, as always, I’m reading, trying to think, and longing to write.  All will happen, but in their own good time, not mine.

Until then, of course, here’s your open thread.  I have long felt that, for those of you who regularly comment here, this is as much your blog as it is mine.