Someday

I can do a lot of dreaming looking at this photo, how about you? ~Mrs F

I can do a lot of dreaming looking at this photo, how about you? ~Mrs F

Late August.  Time for the annual panic, “oh no, the school year’s about to start.”  I’ve been walking around saying this summer has felt particularly odd because of the cool weather.  Lies.

Summer is just never long enough for me.  If it isn’t cool temps, it’s temps that are too hot, or too rainy, or too many obligations or too many deaths.  Just not enough, which is an old and familiar song for me.  The theme of much of my writing, the guilty chorus that whispers about my parenting, the peek at my word count at the end of each day’s writing session, the ever ready want of more.

The other day I went with Nerd Child and Flower Child to my godson’s Eagle Scout ceremony.  Induction?  I don’t know, scouts aren’t a big thing here in Manhattan.  My suburban friends reassure me that scouting exists here in the city, but I’ve never met any beyond a small, half hearted cub scout group when Man Child was in 1st grade, disbanded by Christmas.

Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges

Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges (Photo credit: honus)

 

It was very sweet–though I know better than to use the word sweet in relation to an almost seventeen year old boy– and made me feel old and nostalgic.  We took the train to Brooklyn and the Scout’s grandmother, where I sat with my kids on her couch in the living room I spent hours in as a teenager.  Not too many people from my past have stayed in Brooklyn, let alone the same house, so it was very alternate reality feeling.  We met up with a friend and traveled the rest of the way to Long Island.  There I saw more friends, and watched my kids goof around with theirs, and felt the absence of a good friend’s son who passed away last summer.

Obviously more goes into the Eagle Scout thing than I understand, Godson and parents were very, very proud. Local politicians and reps attended and gave brief speeches and congratulations.  A snapshot of a lovely moment.

I also missed Man Child.  Between boarding school and college he’s been away a lot, and I did get to see him this summer, but he’s already back in the dorm.  This is the first time he hasn’t come home to be “home” over a break, and it’s damned weird.

Kind of maudlin today, aren’t I?  Did get to the beach with Flower Child yesterday, which felt good, but didn’t quite recharge me in the way I had hoped.  A family of three, two parents and a little girl of about 4 years old settled next to us.  I couldn’t believe the amount of shit they had with them for two hours at the beach.  Six towels, two large shade umbrellas, three huge bags of toys, sunscreen, and snacks: three people.  The little girl was covered neck to calves in one of those bathing suit/lycra sun coverall things.  I swear Flower Child and I saw bathing suits that looked just like it in the museum last year, what women wore at the turn of the twentieth century. This was not a fair skinned family, but you would think they were albino (am I politically incorrect, is there a more current term?) with the amount of sunscreen they slathered on.  I’m not going to mention their little disagreement with the lifeguards about the safety of their sweet pea, and the rule against life jackets/swimmies in the ocean.  I know it seems counterintuitive to the Backyard Pool crowd, but really.  Big waves, riptides, small children, you don’t want them at all out of reach and where they can’t safely stand.

I know we’re all so much safer than previous generations, fewer kids will find themselves in the dermatologist’s office with a skin cancer diagnosis, but widespread Vitamin D deficiencies weren’t a thing when I was using baby oil and iodine instead of SPF 8000, either.

Listened to Creedance Clearwater Revival on the way home, remembered when that was my favorite beach music.  When I had to turn the tape over it was time to flip and freckle my other side.  I used to work odd hours, at the time I lived in South Brooklyn and worked in either Manhattan or downtown Brooklyn.  In the summer, if I was working overnights I’d leave work and head straight for the beach, get a few hours of sleep and sun before heading home to eat, nap, and go back to work.  Swing shifts, I’d get up early, get on the train and go back to sleep on the beach, leaving just enough time to shower before work.   Thinking a lot about those days as I work on Astonishing, tapping into those old work experiences and certainties that I would, when I was ready, be a published author.

It’s ok, you can laugh, there was no internet then to tell me that isn’t how it works.

18 comments

  1. Oh Credence CR, oh my. Yes, I used Baby oil too and as far as me and my friends were concerned Summer hadn’t started until we’d had a full body peel.
    My Father in Law used to butter his bald pate!!!!! Oh yes.

    Chin up M’Dear. Onward and downward.

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    1. 🙂
      LOL, never used butter, but I’m sure I would have if someone mentioned it.

      Never fear, my downward trajectory continues with or without me. I just hang on and chronicle, no seat belts required.

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  2. I read somewhere that sunscreen can cause cancer; something to do not allowing the sun to play with melatonin or something (never mind the nasty chemicals). I don’t wear it personally unless I’ve gone somewhere tropical. I have been wearing coconut oil though, it’s supposed to be a natural sun screen in the sense that you’re less likely to burn and just tan.

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    1. Interesting.
      I’m a big fan of moderation, personally. I don’t burn easily, but if I’m going to be on the beach for the day I put some on.

      Thanks for the coconut oil tip, I’m going to read up on that!

      Nerd Child is allergic to the regular sunscreens, usually skips any but if forced he wears stuff we get at the health food store that’s everything-free, but does protect.
      🙂

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      1. I have a friend/newly turned all natural product girl. She swears by coconut oil and all those tropical fruits (eaten) she calls it eating your sunscreen. BTW the coconut oil works on me and I’m strawberry blond freckly woman!

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  3. I like many somewhat sane people like Creedance Clearwater Revival, I say somewhat sane because I am somewhat sane by that I mean I have frequent moments of being not sane……….lol
    I do moderation really I do ok I am a little fatty so that may be hard to believe but trust me I do……lol

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  4. Did you write that yesterday, mrs fringe, or today? I hope you are less melancholic, regardless. I was reading something today, trying to tell this person how wonderful her writing was, without fawning, without sounding like a complete and total doofus person enamored with yet another exquisitely turned phrase. And wondering if I really know what of I speak because I don’t want to steer this person wrong, especially not THIS person, who I think is this amazingly special person, who I have not met but feel I know or, at least, feel a kinship with. . .

    mrs fringe. . .

    xo kk

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    1. Yesterday, and yes, feeling, especially after reading some notes. 🙂

      You, kk, are the goods. Thank you, and ((((((hugs)))))))

      Amazing, these realer than real cyber relationships, aren’t they?
      xoxo

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  6. We have those types of families here on the West Coast too. Parents that pack half their house for just one child. I think I’ve adopted my mom’s way of traveling to the beach. No fuss no muss. Just a blanket, few snacks, and of course, our baby oil. Those were the good ol’ days!

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  7. Imagine the life of an Eagle Scout in Manhattan…helping little old ladies across streets, giving first aid to strangers in the era of AIDS, and all the nature observation badges that need be earned with nothing more than rabid raccoons in C. Park. No wonder ! Did Wiener show up for a phot op?
    That would get some attention…Wiener Courts Fringe Vote Amongst Eagles.
    Later…

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  8. I remember burning so bad that I couldn’t sit back against the seat of the car by the time we were driving home…. Lol picturing that little kid though. Did she have white zinc on her nose, too?? 😛 The Empress is blonde and really fair and I’ve never had to go quite to those extremes to keep her from burning. 🙂 Of course boy #2 is also blonde and blue eyes, and the kid can tan like crazy. I don’t know where he gets it from, since his father and I primarily come in two shades, white and sunburned. 😀

    Give Empress a bucket of sand toys and she’s happy at the beach. 🙂

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