Little Men of Mine
Saturday, July 29, 2006
Rediscovering Youth
I've been really busy this week with my latest project for the newspaper. I conducted five more interviews (three of which were restaurants--not much to get the creative energy going there!), and wrote up three of them as well as my weekly grocery "column." So when Friday arrived and I found a big blank space on the calendar, I decided we needed to do something fun.Since it was over 90 degrees out, and I despise hot-hot weather, I thought we'd check out the pool at a neighboring community (our own local pool breathed its last last summer). I packed up the three boys, some lunches, floaties and sunscreen, and grabbed my niece (6) and nephew (8). We got there in time to get seats under a giant umbrella and then spent a blissful five hours or so splashing in the excellent pool, playing in the awesome sand area, eating sweet, drippy ice cream and enjoying each other's company. It was truly a lovely afternoon, with the exception of the nasty sunburn I sustained on my back--I did manage to slather everyone else up with sunscreen repeatedly, just not myself!
What I truly enjoyed about the day was spending the time with my niece and nephew, who are two sincerely great kids. I've seen a lot of them this summer because my brother started working from home, and they are no longer going to their babysitter's during the day. Instead, they're stuck home with their dad, who is trying to keep them sufficiently entertained while he gets his work done. He has to be on the phone a lot, and it's hard to keep them distracted and quiet, so I've been trying to have them hang out with us as much as possible.
It wasn't this way when they were littler and my kids were babies, but now it's almost like having two extra kids is no added burden! In fact, it can even make life easier. My niece and my oldest son are only a year apart, so they play together wonderfully, and even allow 3-year-old Ted to join in sometimes. My nephew is a great companion for me and likes to follow around and play with the baby. They're both courteous and respectful, and incredibly easy on the eyes. When I have them with me, it's a very strange day if at least one person doesn't comment on how beautiful they are (my SIL is hispanic, and it doesn't even seem like we could be related, they with their exotic brown skin, and us with our glow-in-the-dark pasty whiteness).
I haven't had the greatest relationship with my SIL in recent years, so I almost feel like my brother's staying home has afforded me this incredible chance to become a bigger presence in the lives of his kids. Neither of my husband's sisters have children, so these two are the only cousins my kids have. We all live in the same town and, until about a year ago when we moved, we were actually only a block apart, but rarely saw them. There's less than a month now until school starts, so I'm taking every opportunity I can find to do things with them and have fun and enable my brother to get some work done. The youth I'm rediscovering is theirs, and man, do I love them.
Posted by Jennifer @ 8:56 AM