Beautiful Summer

There are things in life that I simply am not concerned with… that if I ever aspired to, I don’t anymore. For example, I am never going to be that girl who loves to be social… go to parties, have parties, mix and mingle. It’s just not in my blood. In fact, I truly believe I am a hopeless introvert in disguise. I am also never going to be well travelled. I want to see the world, but if I have to ride on a plane to do it, it’s probably never going to happen. I will never do math. I will never play the piano any better than I do right now, and that’s really, really awful. I will never appreciate some of the classic literary writers like Whitman and Hawthorne. Or Melville. (I really hated Moby Dick.) I will never know what it feels like to be daddy’s little girl. I’ll probably always have an excess of self-doubt. And I seriously doubt that I will ever become the girl version of Indiana Jones (what I always wanted to be when I grew up). Those are things I just am… or am not. And I’m ok with that.

But the purpose I aspire to that cannot be lost is to be a good mother to my children. The thought of failing at that role is enough to bring me to my knees. I believe it’s at the end of things that we tend to reflect on what we’ve done right and what we’ve done wrong. As this summer is coming to end, I hope my children can look back on it and have only wonderful memories of the places we went, things we did, time we spent together doing absolutely nothing. I so want them to be happy and know how loved and adored they are. I want to do right by them in every way. I know to some, those aspirations seem miniscule and limiting. I don’t get up everyday and leave the house to go to a high-paying job. And most of the time, the only way I put my education to work is correcting the girls when they say “go-ed” instead of “went” or “eat-ed” instead of “ate.” But it’s not limiting to me. To me, it's everything. A few weeks ago an old friend from grad school sent me a message on Facebook. Part of it said, "I never thought you'd just be a mom. I thought you'd have it all." My message back to him simply said, "I do."

So, in case I forget, maybe my children can look here someday and remember the summer of 2009. And though the Slaughter sisters fought a lot. And Jeb fussed a lot. And there were a lot of time-outs. And frustrations. It was a beautiful summer. I wouldn’t change a second of it.

We had our first family pictures taken with the Jebster.

We baked a lot.

And made lots of home made ice cream!

We spent a week at the beach.

We watched fireworks on the 4th of July.

We went to the lake. E Dru learned to ski.

So did Belle.

Matt and Jeb just looked cool.

We were in the Jeep. A lot.

The girls went to art camp.

The kids hung out in their favorite laundry basket.

We spent a lot of time in Russellville with Pawpaw when he needed us.

We fished at Pawpaw's and caught tons of these whoppers.

We played in the sprinkler in the front yard.

More sprinkler.

We celebrated a special girl's 5th birthday.

We swam!

Well, some of us just hung out on the steps.

Most of all, we loved and laughed. What can be better than that?

What strikes me the most looking back over these pictures is that I am the one behind the camera. I am the one that got to see it all happen. Every moment. Every smile. All of it. I have said it before, but I will say it again... I am truly undeserving of this life He has given.