It’s hot here. I wish I had a better reason for months of radio silence, but all I have is heat and pandemic fatigue. The briefest of updates: the last couple of months of school were awful, the first couple of months of summer were bearable, and now we wait (again) to see where it all goes from here. This time of year is hard for we of low heat tolerance every year, with the water at the local pool becoming more like a warm bath and the noise from our window a/c units turning us into Poe characters. Typically we hunker down and wait for fall, but on top of 16 months of hunkering down and waiting for vaccines for children, our grasp on that plan is tenuous at best.
There are positives. The puppy is delightful. Exhausting, an early riser, tricksy and muleheaded, as much work as a particularly recalcitrant toddler. Also soft, friendly, playful, and adorable. Our math is wonky but we are pretty sure it’s coming up in the dog’s favor. Another year of swim team is in the books, with some private lessons from our child’s original swim instructor helping make the leap to dives and flip turns. There is nothing quite like seeing the person who taught your baby to love the water and be proud of doing underwater “sea lion swimming” now help them lose their fear of belly flops and water up their nose a full decade later. Thanks to our location in a regional hub of medical research, two of our child’s friends have been vaccinated early through participation in vaccine trials which opens up small windows of opportunity for unmasked indoor play and a general diminishment of our worry around socializing.
What more is there to say about the dog days of summer. It’s Leo season. I’ve known so many thickheaded, big-hearted, hilarious, aggravating, sociable, intense people born in this month over the years. Fire signs stick together, so while this time of year is exhausting and flattening for me, it also gave the world some of the people I’ve loved the most in my life. I wish your love really were ice cream, though. It’s hot here.