School has kicked back off in our world, bringing with it the ability to get back to enjoying the things that make me, me. Having children who are neuro-spicy means that my summer is filled with doing everything in my power to make sure they don’t do something to hurt themselves or someone else because they are bored and being the bad guy who expects them to continue reading each day BEFORE they get to play a video game to doom scroll on their phones.
And as the summer closed I had to wonder if next summer doesn’t need to be different for them and me. This past summer was spent just surviving, just getting through the 90ish days between one grade and the next. It definitely wasn’t the summer I remember having when I was their age.
But for now school is back in session and we are back to a routine that mostly keeps everyone so busy they can’t think and are too tired to care in the evenings as we get ready for bed. Everyone that is but me. I love when everyone is out of the house and I’m able to crank up the music, spend time writing or working on other things at my desk without children staring into my soul or screaming in the background. In many ways, the time the kids are in school is easier to manage because I’m not bound by the needs of being a parent in those few hours.
This time also gives me more time to watch people and ponder where we as a society are going wrong with life. Lately, as I work on a novel, I’ve been listening to a Spotify playlist of 80s and 90s Country music (back when Country music was worth listening too) and thinking about those times when we were able to enjoy the simpler things like playing in the street between our house and our friends. Things like sitting on the porch shelling peas and working through corn while visiting with family and friends. Things that I took for granted when I was my kids age, but long for now like drinking a glass of sun-tea while watching the sunset after and honest day’s work. Time spent at a table with family, eating a meal in minutes that took our mothers and grandmothers hours to prepare.
Life back then was simpler, quieter, and frankly more fun than our social media, sports infested, isolation that we are living today. We’ve traded family time for screen time, dinners at the table for fast food between school and practice, slow brewed tea for $12 coffees, and peace of mind for the worry that we aren’t doing enough.
I long for what was. I long for the peace and quiet of a noisy family meal, a street fill with rowdy kids playing stick ball, and a simple glass of tea on the porch with good friends, a guitar, and laughter between the notes.
Maybe, just maybe it’s time we bring it back.
J.Rhett Lively 