The crickets chirp softly in the background of a summer's evening as I swing gently back and forth on one of the boys' swings. Across the yard, my three favourite fellas are playing an after-dinner game of baseball; they are throwing, batting, catching, running, and laughing in the soft light, and I am caught in a moment of simple happiness that I wish would never end.
There is something bittersweet about a lovely evening in August. The relatively cooler temperatures make the after-dinner hours just perfect for enjoying outdoors, and life seems easy, relaxed, carefree in the tree-sheltered comfort of our backyard. The hours are ours to enjoy while they last, and there is no pressure to be anywhere else. The feeling of contentment that fills these times lulls me into believing summer will go on indefinitely... yet something about the feel of the August air and the look of the evening light wistfully reminds me that our sun-kissed days of leisure will soon be winding down.
Some parents arrive at this point in the summer and long for the return of school and routine, but I am not there yet. I drink up all these happy moments of freedom with my family like a tall, cool glass of lemonade. The memory of them will be a welcome refreshment when the summer sun sets and our swings once again sit empty in the evenings.
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