Heading Sweatily into Summer

We've been getting what seems to be more than the usual amount of rain (or "moisture," as the natives call it. Husband and I can't help but giggle whenever they say that) this year. Those in the know are telling us that this is actually normal rainfall when we're not having a drought. I am not minding it at all. If we can put off the seriously hot, dry days that I know are coming, I'm that much happier with life.

The girls are nearly done with school. Sophia, my Child Three, has worked very hard to reach completion in her homeschooling studies, as has Sian, Oldest Child. Sophia has done more in a day than she thought was possible, proving to herself that she will be happy when summer comes.

I, on the other hand, have the usual mixed feelings about summer. Not only is it a hot and sweaty time, but the kids spend an inordinate amount of time being bored. I've written about this before, so I'm not going to belabor the point any more, but you know what I mean. A columnist in the Deseret News wrote about how sad it is that he doesn't see kids playing outside any more. He attributed it to the fact that kids are now so involved in scheduled and structured play activities, such as sports leagues and lessons of all kinds, that they don't get to just play and be kids. I can guarantee that's not the case with my kids. I'm just afraid to let them run unsupervised outside.

When I was a kid, I ran all over the neighborhood and even the city. My hometown in Northern Minnesota is not in any way comparable in size to Salt Lake, but we still lived in a city. I would be gone for hours: playing at the park, skipping stones in the creek, taking the bus to the library, forming detective agencies and doing investigative work. We went home when we got hungry or when it got dark. We were wary of strangers, but we weren't scared.

Since then the crazies have emerged. Now that we are parents, we're scared to let our kids run free outside because of that possibility, remote as it may be, that some unscrupulous person will snatch one of them. The thought of it sends horrors through all of us. A teenage girl from our church congregation was walking home the three blocks from the main road to the road on which she lives, in our neighborhood. She was followed by a strange man who harrassed her right up to her doorstep. She was so flustered she didn't know what to do, but after she told her father, the police were called. There have been a couple attempted abductions at the junior high right around the corner from our house, a man or men in a truck who tried to force girls into their cars. This is a decent neighborhood, not a slum. Why are these things happening?

Don't answer that. I think we all know the answer is complicated and sad. I just had to spout off for a minute.

In other news, Elannah, who had that nasty accident with the glass-embedded hill last summer, has seen great improvement in the appearance of her scars. They have gone from an angry red to a light pink. They are hardly visible any more, which I really never thought was possible, given the sheer largeness of them. After the year mark she will be able to wear shorts and swimsuits without also putting on leggings, a fact she is still trying to come to grips with.

Husband is almost done with his book. He also still has a job, for which we are very, very thankful. He will be teaching all four tracks at the same time next year at his year-round school. This year he was teaching two tracks at the same time, so at least he's had some practice in scheduling. Because he has all four tracks, he will have only a couple weeks off this summer. My in-laws are visiting for part of it and we are thinking of actually taking a vacation to Somewhere Else during the other part, even though Gabrielle and Sian will be at Girls' Camp.

That's the news. Other than the fact that I've been studying near-death experiences and reading that awful -- yet compelling -- book that MKShelley sent me, that's what's going on in a nutshell.