See You Later's and Suitcases

     Oh the suitcase summer can aptly title the month of August (and honestly summarize the summer in 2 words).  June and July days consisted of time at the pool, museums, make-your-own-suckers, tears and tennis lessons...Not for me, but for the 3 kids I nanny each summer.   At 12, 8 and 6 they require lots of stimulation-thank heavens for Pinterest crafts.  The poolside playtime came in handy while competing with my 2 sisters on "who can get the greatest tan".  While the kids loved their pool, I only had so  much time to work on my tan.  Being a lifeguard allows more time to soak up that sun which resulted in a third place win for me.  Maybe next year.  June seemed to stretch forever and melt into the 4th of July, which is on of my favorite holidays. Impossibly the month galloped forward into the 24th (slow down, July!) then August was here.  The 8th month brought a sort of enjoyable panic in our household.  The end of the month not only brought a wedding, one off to college, one smack in the middle of high school but also one about to leave country for a spell.  All four kids had some monumental life moment, and we all chose it to be within about a week of each other.  My poor parents.


Don't we all look precious?  From left to right, L. (High school)
J. (now a married man) Emily (yours truly) and S.  (BYU bound)

    Hence, August was this sort of manic blur as we all started wiring mason jars for the wedding and sorting out our shared closet, whose contents would soon be in three very different cities. Naturally, things worked out just fine.  The wedding was absolutely gorgeous and S.  is safe and sound at Brigham Young University.  L. is back in the social swing and procrastinating math homework but is doing exceptionally well.  I am the last to embark on my adventure and thus the suitcase summer can still apply.  Next week, I board a plane to go live in Jerusalem until Christmas time.  I'll be going with BYU's study abroad program with a few other students to study in the Holy Land.  That's a difficult semester to top, don't you think?  After a few squabbles about clothing, my suitcases are essentially packed as I scrounge up the last minute items before leaving the country.  This week's task is to spend time with my remaining limbs (Harry Potter? Anyone?) Kidding-I have a few days with just me and L. and the parents which rarely happens. I'm off to complete a summer "to do list" with Park City day trips and movie marathons both of which are great end of summer activities.  I'm trying to master the art of goodbyes, but seem to settle on see you laters.  I'll probably save a few of those hard ones for right before I leave for the airport. Now I know I'm kind of a "see you later" kinda gal...and also a 1-suitcase-plus-carry on-for-4-months master.