Just who is this family, anyway?

We will be welcoming a student from France this summer. During the application process, we were asked questions about our family's interests and how we would describe ourselves. I marked things like academic (versus athletic) and artistic (versus outdoorsy). Let's be honest: probably not the ideal environment in the eyes of most thirteen-year-old boys.

However, I have to believe that any child who is willing to venture to another country to live with strangers for three weeks has to have an open and adventurous spirit. He will be treated to any food he wants to try. He'll be given the freedom to ride a bike around town and swim every day if he wishes. We're heading to a state park for an overnight camping trip, and I'm mentally planning lots of short trips to area ice cream shops and parks.

I know that our plans aren't all that glamorous, but they are filled with the types of moments that I love to give my family. I like to think that this family is the type who loves the little things. The type whose youngest child will call me into a room, just to point out the sunset. And hopefully, one that will be thought of as being warm and kind by a stranger from France.

Sometimes, life makes it hard to be this type of family. There is always something to do, and my own selfishness gets in the way, I suppose. So I'm grateful that this student's visit will be an inspiration and reason to enjoy all the lovely things we have right here in our own back yard.

The one word I would use to describe this family (most days anyway): Happy.

Boy, was my mom lucky...

Tomorrow marks the last day of school, which means summer break for our two school-age kids. As I've spent hours with the activity calendar, said good-bye to many dollars in registration fees, and ordered workbooks all to fill their days with enrichment, I can't help but think, "Boy, was my mom lucky!"

I'm pretty sure that my mom was not concerned me being lazy or getting into trouble over the summer. She was at home with me, ready to prevent these things from happening. And forget about worrying  about the summer slide — a term that educators and guilty parents have come up with in recent years to describe academic slips. Thirty years ago the sole concern we had with summer slides was that the metal would burn our legs when we went down them.

My mom was lucky because she only worried about if I was getting too much sun during my daily trips to the pool. She didn't worry about my brain much, and since I checked out a new book every day — on my way home from the pool, of course — I think I had it covered. No matter how old I get, the idea of summer brings visions of me on my bike — riding to the pool, riding to the library, just riding with friends. I got lots of exercise and most importantly, I got a fair amount of freedom. I wasn't just free from school work, I was free from a schedule that was not of my own choosing.

Turns out my mom wasn't as lucky as much as I was lucky.

Sometimes, I wish I could allow my children to have those same types of summers. They do get to go the pool and library plenty. But I will expect some of those workbook sheets to be completed, and they will have a lot more chores than I ever did. (Turns out I'm still lucky in summer since I get major housework help.)

Despite my demands, I hope I can still pass on my sense of summer joy to my children. That joy makes these precious weeks the loveliest of the year. It's what makes an afternoon in the hammock the cheapest therapy around. It's the reason I find myself with a slight smile on my face as I grill or garden. And it's what I miss the most come January.

Here's to heat and freedom and luck...here's to summer joy.

A LOVELY MOMENT FROM MY DAY: My husband and I enjoyed a walk with the dog together tonight, and he shared some memories about his Grandpa Gassman, a man I wish I could have known when he was in good health.