Why are your clothes all over the floor?  Pick up your trash! What is your bike doing in the front yard?  Stop picking on your brother!  Get your wet butt off my couch! Don't scratch that, it'll spread!   Ahh, the sounds of summer..
We're only into the second week of vacation here and it's feeling like I've lost control already.  
 
 
     "Alexa wrote us a letter" my husband informed me as I arrived home from work the other night. (Alexa is our youngest daughter whose move away to college in September ended 22 years of fulltime parenting.) "You'll cry when you read it" he warned.  He was right. 
 
 
     Spring is in the air and sport registration packets are complete, equipment purchased, practices scheduled.  Let the games begin!  This is the first year that my children actually "tried out" for teams.  They both play Lacrosse (picture ice hockey on a field), thanks to their father who is passionate about the sport and waited "years" to bring them into the fold.  I suppose every  parent who was an athlete has a certain dream of their own children following in their footsteps.  They may even pray for a college scholarship or, on occasion, fantasize them becoming the next Michael Jordan. Our son, age 8 and in his third season, is a strong player and made the A Team as anticipated.  Our daughter, age 10 and in her second year, is a good player and tried out for the A Team as well.  I didn't think she was ready and secretly prayed she wouldn't make it.  Was that a fair thing to do? 
 
 
     One morning, when my youngest daughter was five, I received a call at my office saying she was "missing".  Close friends from Germany, who had three children themselves, were visiting and I'd consequently given my regular babysitter the day off.  "Oh Alexa is probably just hiding under one of the beds as a prank"  I attempted to reassure them.  "We've checked the entire house, she is missing" they repeated again in an anxious tone.  "When was she last seen?" I asked. "Out in the front yard watching Dominik [their pre-teen son] skate.  Dominik came in but he did not bring her with him.  When we went outside to find her, she was gone."