The Start of Summer

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Today is the first day of summer vacation. Though it's not yet summer according to the calendar, and my daughter's last day of school was last Thursday (making Friday the actual first day of vacation), trust me when I tell you that at my house, today is the first day of summer vacation. I know this because I felt several seismic shifts this morning.

My husband left for work while both my daughter and I were asleep.

My daughter made pancakes for breakfast. At 10:00.

My normally quiet house has had music echoing off all its surfaces for the past hour-and-a-half, with few exceptions.

While I'm very glad to have my daughter home, and to have dispensed with an alarm clock for the foreseeable future, I'm already sensing that creating a work schedule is going to be a tad challenging.

There are parts of summer vacation I adore. Having my family around more often. Sleeping in. Reading for pleasure.

Yet all of these wonderful things conspire to make the day-to-day more challenging. When I'm enjoying the down time, my to-do list runs like a ticker tape in the back of my mind. When I'm working and my family isn't, I feel as though I should step away from the computer or the planner, which brings up another way that I know summer vacation has just begun.

I haven't found my balance yet. Yesterday, I read, napped, played on my iPad and watched Harry Potter (and felt very guilty). Consequently, today I should be writing and editing and planning and putting my house in order, both literally and figuratively.

Photo: mensatic via Morguefile

But by the time I sat down to write this, the first thing on today's to-do list, it was nearly noon.

And my daughter has just returned with a Starbucks for me.

Maybe balance is overrated.