photographs

Today it is August.  Today marks the beginning of the end of summer and of the slowest month of the year.

Just like last year I am participating in Susanna Conway’s August Break and will be posting a picture every (week)day in August.

I hope this month holds some long, empty days for you, lots of memories, some popsicles, salt water, and lots of wonder. I look forward to sharing what it holds for me, through the lens of my camera instead of that of my words.

Tomorrow morning I will take Grace to sleepaway camp for the second time.  Her room is a maze of piles, all with nametags carefully applied, and today we will finally pack the trunk.  I am going to miss my little soul mate an awful lot.  I absolutely know that the experience will be wonderful for her, though, and that’s what I care most about.  As certain as I am, it feels like tomorrow morning we cross another threshhold.  These transitions, they keep coming.

On Nana and Poppy’s boat, watching as we leave the harbor.  This is the same boat where, last year, they danced before the hurricane.  Those paying close attention will note that we were clearly under motor as the jib is still rolled.  On the way back it was blowing hard and we most certainly sailed.  Just another reminder that the wind that blows us around can shift enormously in a moment.

This summer’s central thrill is the two of them swimming to the rafts at the beach (both near and far) by themselves.  Alone, and together, they swam through the sparkling sun on the early morning high tide last week.

A lone woman was in the water swimming out to the line when Grace and Whit crashed, giggling, into the ocean.  When she came out, I apologized that her swim may have been less placid than usual.  She smiled and told me my children were having a wonderful time together.  “All I could hear was them saying ‘pretend’ and ‘watch me,’ and laughing a lot.”

Isn’t that the essence of childhood?  Pretend, and watch me?