One Last Sweet Treat

Princess and I had ice cream for lunch...and it was delicious! Now before anyone reports me to an agency for bad parents, let me defend myself.

I go back to work next week. My summer fun officially stops on Tuesday. So today after a morning of music class, followed by a late morning of walking around a farm feeding lots of animals, Princess and I each got a Kiddie cup full of silky vanilla ice cream. We found a nice little picnic bench (far enough away from both farm animals and garbage cans thus avoiding a swarm of bees reminiscent of My Girl) and indulged ourselves in spoonful after spoonful of the creamy sweet treat. It was our swan song for a lovely mother-daughter summer that feels as if it only just begun.

As I wiped the sugary drips from my daughter's cheeks (and knees, fingers, t-shirt, shorts and one ear - not sure how that happened), I felt that familiar knot creep into the back of my throat. Our mornings of music, cooking shows, play-doh, car races, crayons, books, blocks and dolls are over. The afternoons of pool splashes, park swings, and salt shakers (to season the dinners we watched assembled on Food Network, of course) are through. We will walk back in the maelstrom of early morning wake-up calls, long hours without one sticky kiss from Princess, and ridiculous traffic jams which nibble away our few precious hours together. The knot is repositioning itself as I write.

So, yes, we had ice cream for lunch. We licked away our fun summer and prepared ourselves for another school year.

And don't worry...we are having chicken and a big salad for dinner.