Last week I looked at my calendar with disgust when I could not find one block of time to take my daughters to see the new Harry Potter movie.  I wanted it to be a family event and while perusing the calendar I could not find one time that everyone in my family to could go together. 

When my girls were younger, our summers were not quite so filled.  I stayed home during my summers to take care of them, to take them to the lake and make sure we made the big blockbuster events special.  While it made summers quite relaxing at times, at other times my girls complained of being bored. 

Little by little my girls got more involved in sports and clubs and friends.  I look back on those elementary school days with fond memories of golden summer days with little scheduled and lots of time for reading and fun.

Now my girls are older so I work in the mornings while they are doing their athletic stuff, swim team, tennis, soccer, or working. Trying to get away for even a week seems so complicated now.  No matter how you do it, someone is missing out on something. In the past we would take off for three weeks to visit my parents in California, this year it was difficult to find five days in a row we could all go. 

I know this season of busy schedules is short.  Now that my eldest is out of the house, I no longer have her schedule on my calendar and in five years, my 2014 summer calendar will only have me and my husband’s stuff on it.  At times I can’t wait!  Then there are other moments when I don’t know what I will do without them crowding my schedule and filling my laundry bin.