A Perfect Summer Day

Today was a day I had been longing for, for a very long time.  A peaceful Sunday with nothing to do.  No softball games that needed to be played, no birthday parties to go to, no meetings to attend, no errands that desparately needed to be done, and no house that needed to be cleaned.  After we came home from church and I made the girls their lunch (Harry had to work today) I decided that with a heat index of 100 degrees or more, I was just going to relax in the recliner with a good book, probably ICarly on the tube, and the wonderful, wonderful sound of the air conditioner blowing in the background.  All of the sudden, I had 3 pairs of hopeful looking eyes staring at me and asking "Can we go swimming?".  It's too hot out there to sit with them for hours on hours watching them swim.  I can't get in the pool due to the fact that I don't have a swimsuit that fits me.  More and more negative thoughts kept flowing through my head until I finally realized: IT'S NOT ABOUT YOU! It's about them having a wonderful summer and memories to cherish when they are older.  When we were kids, there were four of us siblings, we used to swim from the time we got up until the time we went to bed.  The above ground pools started out small and eventually kept getting bigger as we got older.  We laid on rafts, we tried to see who could hold their breath the longest, who could swim the fastest under water, how many coins can we find on the bottom of the pool, and volleyball with the beach ball. Dad used to sit outside watching us while listening to the Cardinals on the radio. Everytime the beach ball went out of the pool, he would get up to get it. I don't remember him ever complaining about the million times he had to go after the ball.  I even remember us constantly going around the pool in a circle until there was a whirlpool effect and we could just glide along with it in our tube.  I wish I had a scanner to put old pictures on here.  I recently found one of the four of us in the pool all trying to sit on a blowup alligator at the same time.  We are all laughing and smiling, not a care in the world except having fun.  I preceded to tell the girls "yes" and they ran to get their suits on as happy as could be.  I still got to read my book while swinging on the swing.  I still heard the air conditioner running in the background (wasn't feeling it though).  But I also heard another sound that was sweeter than all the cool air on a hot summer day:  the sound of my girls laughing and playing, being happy, and making memories that will last a lifetime.

After Harry came home from work, he finished off the perfect summer day by doing some grilling for supper.  He made BBQ chicken breasts that were cooked to perfection.  Nothing says summer like some BBQ on the grill.

Add to that some almond rice pilaf, sweet corn on the cob, and homemade strawberry lemonade and you have a delicious summer supper.