Memories of Summer

In August, when the brief lazy weeks of our summer were ending and we were looking at a much busier end-of-summer and then the beginning of school, I asked each of the family members about what they would remember the most about Summer of 2012.  These were their responses:

• Joseph: "I liked playing with friends and making up games to play with them.  Also the best thing was learning to ride my bike at the beach house. And I liked going to Utah."

The bike riding was such a huge and awesome accomplishment, that I think it deserves its own post.

• Aubrey: "Girls Camp was a great memory and was the best year ever, even with the stinky toilets. And I liked our Utah trip and Grandma and Grandpa's cabin. But a very sad memory from this summer is having my schoolclothes money and my iPad stolen"

 The iPad Story

Yes, that was a very sad day. It happened in August, when we were doing some back to school shopping at Ross with Aubrey, Aubrey's friend, Bailey, and Angela (Brandon's girlfriend, who was visiting). To understand how sad this was for Aubrey, you have to understand how much she loved her iPad Mini.  She saved her allowance and babysitting money for several years and finally had enough to buy it last January.  She had researched the pros and cons of different iPad options for many months (she is so conversant in the features of Apple products that she should work at an Apple store), and finally decided on a 32 gig white iPad Mini. She also chose a very nice bright green cover. 

She used her iPad for everything and treated it with utmost care. She carried it with her to school and (as is encouraged by the school) used the wi-fi to do research and keep track of her assignments and calendar, etc. I had been skeptical that it would be helpful for school, but it really was a great tool, and she used it like a pro.

So, we were at Ross and she had brought her iPad in her purse. She also had $100 of her own money to use to buy school clothes. At one point she wanted to try on a coat and she didn't notice that she dropped the purse to the ground. She showed me the coat, and out of the corner of my eye I saw the purse and had the thought that I should tell her to pick it up, but then I was distracted and didn't say anything to her. Boy, do I regret ignoring that prompting.

Aubrey ran off to the dressing room to try on some clothes and I was distracted by looking around to track down the rest of the group. We all walked away from the coat aisle for a few minutes. Then Aubrey realized she didn't have her purse and I immediately knew where it had been dropped, under the rack of coats. I ran there but it was gone. When I checked at the customer service counter to see if anyone turned it in, an older woman held the purse up and said she found it on the ground and was bringing it to the front. When she held it up my heart sank, because I could tell that the bright green-covered iPad was missing. We talked to the security guard and he tried to piece together what happened, finally concluding that someone must have seen the purse, rifled through it and taken the money and the iPad, and then dropped the purse and left the store. There were many crocodile tears shed in that store that day. Oh..... it was sad and painful. Many nice people in the store came up and offered Aubrey their condolences. Why oh why didn't any of the nice people find the purse first and turn it in??

So, Aubrey started the school this year without her beloved iPad. She is saving her money to buy another one and learned a very sad lesson about safeguarding her valuables.  And some dishonest person made a bad choice that broke the heart of a little girl.

• Bailey:  "I loved EFY and our trip to Utah, including seeing Ashlyn and BYU-I and the new cabin in Heber. And staying an extra week in Utah with Mianna.  And I loved being a YCL at Girls Camp this year. "

We will need to do a separate post all about EFY and also one about Girls Camp.

• Dan:  "I love the fact that I go to work while everyone else sleeps in and plays all day. Wait, actually I don't love that!  But I did like our trip to Utah."

• Me (Tiffany):  "I loved all the good things you guys mentioned, but I especially loved the night we watched shooting stars outside."   

 The Shooting Star Story

We had heard on the news that there was going to be a meteor shower that night, visible to much of the nation.  We were skeptical that we could enjoy it because it's pretty rare that we get a clear enough sky to easily observe the stars. But, the night was unusually cloud-free and after we all went to bed Aubrey opened up her blinds and curled up at the bottom of her bed to get a good view to the outside sky.  

At about 11 p.m. she saw a burst of shooting stars, so she jumped up and rushed in to wake me up. Isn't summer wonderful . . . who cares if it was 11 p.m. Sleep is such a flexible thing in the summer.  We needed to be awake and outside watching the stars! 

I knew Joseph and Bailey wouldn't want to miss it, so we woke them up and gathered a huge pile of blankets. We didn't bother Dan, who had to go to work the next day, and he blissfully snored through all of our rustlings and never knew that we had been outside.

We spread blankets on the grass in the back yard and covered ourselves with more blankets. We were all lined up in a row - Bailey, Joseph, Aubrey, and me. We scrutinized the sky and eventually were rewarded by a shooting star here and there.  There really was a lot of movement in the sky that night, which was fun to see.

But the best thing for me wasn't even the stars. It was just being there.  My mind took a picture that I'll never forget. It was an amazing thing to snuggle together, smelling the grass and the crispness of the night air, seeing the beautiful tapestry above us, and talking about every random thing that crossed our minds.  

 "Is that a bat or a bird?  I think it's a bat.  Oooooh.  I hate bats!  Don't be silly, bats won't hurt you . . ."  

 "Where do you think everyone will be in five years?  Wow - I can't believe how old I'll be!  And only Joseph will be left at home . . . ."  

"What do you think makes the shooting stars?  Is a shooting star the same thing as a meteor?  (it is) . . . .. "  

I feel like I have overused the word "magical" in my posting lately, but that's the only word that describes that night for me. We stayed outside for hours, going inside about about 1 p.m.  I didn't want it to end. I wanted to stay in that moment, with three of my four chickadees gathered together under a blanket, just being together.  

And that was my favorite moment of the summer.