Chez In-Laws '08

Here we are on the East Coast for our sixth-annual July with the in-laws on the Jersey Shore. A whole month spent with my Old Man's family always has its pluses and minuses (and for an explication of the many pluses and several minuses, and a basic explanation of just why we spend a whole month every summer under my Old Man's ancestral roof, see a relevant post from the summer of '06). This July, however, I'm appreciating the visit more than usual.

The main reason for this, I think, is that there are no wedding-related activities or events planned for this summer. Let me repeat that, just because it sounds so sweet: there are no wedding-related activities or events planned for this summer. No bridal showers. No bachelorette parties. One of my sisters-in-law was married last summer and the other the fall before that, so the past two summers have been dominated by preparations for these two big, white weddings. No fan of big, white weddings (mine was a small, merlot-colored wedding), I found all this wedding frenzy trying, to put it mildly (despite being quite a good sport about all of it, up to and including being a big, pregnant bridesmaid last summer). So, no weddings. Glory be. I am reveling in the mellowness and the relative lack of small talk, make-up, and perpetual smiling.

The other thing I'm appreciating this summer is, simply, the opportunity to relax. Having a kid and a baby is one thing, but having a kid, a baby, and a house and yard is just a bit too much. When I'm home, I can't sit down. In the month after school let out, I realized that I was much more exhausted at the end of a day of "vacation" (read: round-the-clock parenting, yard work, house projects, and errands) than I had been after a day of teaching and an afternoon/evening of parenting. When I'm at work, I get to sit down. And during the school year, my yard is not exploding with weeds and tasks to be done.

Here at my in-laws' place, however, there are no tasks dogging me. Aside from parenting my children - when I can wrest them away from their grandparents and aunt - and occasionally helping out a bit in the kitchen, I'm pretty much free. I actually find that I'm mildly, pleasantly bored at times. I'm reading a lot, playing guitar, sleeping in most mornings. ("You go back to bed, Mama," is how my mother-in-law usually greets me as she takes Roo off my hands on mornings when it's my turn to get up with the baby.) This is actually a vacation.

So, here's to vacation. I'll let you know if we have any interesting excursions to the local nude beach.