Summer of Tara

 

Summer of Tara, as I like to call all of summer...was supposed to begin, you know, when school ends, the pool opens, and life can slow down a bit. Oh, and I can get a tan. Yet, Summer of Tara was difficult to begin when we had the worst weather since like 1907 or something like that. Now, you might say- well, in light of all the sickness and death over the past year, is a little rain a real hardship? Well, yeah. Considering all we've been through? I want to say, why yes, it wasn't just a little rain. It was just more shit not to be smiling about. 

I don't want to be a downer so we'll talk about some good stuff. 

E had a banner academic year amidst this crap sandwich of an introduction to middle school. We sort of expect middle school to suck, right? It had it's suck factor, of typical middle school BS, coupled with Covid protocol. But we didn't get sick, he didn't get sick. And really if I have to be honest, academically, for a kid that isn't the best at sitting at a desk for hours on end every day, being home every other day to work at his own pace, wasn't the worst thing. He'd work, drum a little, work, piano a bit, work, ukulele some, work watch Dawson's Creek. I'm pretty proud that not only did he end up on the honor roll for three out four marking periods but he also watched almost all six seasons of Dawson's Creek. He only didn't finish because he said the last season started to get boring. I can't even argue with him because I didn't even watch the whole last season myself. His pop culture education is SPOT THE F ON though.

E also counted down the days to getting to Maine for his seven weeks at Camp Wekeela. We were able to get three of his local friends to go for the second session. Which, considering being locked in the house, on screens for months, not being ideal for any parents or kids, wasn't really that difficult to convince the parents that these kids needed time away, with no internet, gaming, texting, etc. They're all still there now for about another week and a half. 

Unfortunately, I'm not really looking forward to him coming home. Not because I don't miss him. More so because Covid is ramping up AGAIN. While HE is has been vaccinated since June, and B and I have been vaccinated since April, the Delta variant is no joke. My friend who is vaccinated recently got it and said it was awful. She said she's thankful she's vaccinated because it could've been so much worse, but she still was scared, really sick. and worried for her kids who are too young to be vaccinated, and her PETS, who she was told that also could get it. It was a really difficult time. 

Of course, I'm worried and I'm angry that we've done what we were supposed to do, but other people are refusing, this shit is still spreading, yet, they still want to unmask everyone like it's over or like they're just over it. Now. if only the virus would attack the stupid, defiant, and selfish, that would be fine. Except, it isn't. It's random. And that sucks. I'm just not going to go on about that in this entry. I'm going to actually write a list of the stupidity I've seen and then debunk it all in another one.

We haven't been down the shore much at all, mostly because of the weather. Usually we'd go down one day a weekend, but, rain. We've really just stayed close to home. It's just easier and we're just tired. B has had to run around a lot because we have a an Extreme Karen neighbor who ratted him out for working at home during the pandemic. Apparently that's not allowed in our town, well, when someone complains. Meaning, people do it to the point of advertising in our local Facebook groups, HOWEVER, if someone complains, you're SOL, and you're shut down or fined. We obviously opted to shut down because we weren't in the position to pay fines, DURING A PANDEMIC, so B opted for plan Z, and found an outside space to work from. It just means a lot more running around. There were some positives of Extreme Karen having nothing better to do, one of which being, E getting creative. He wrote a song, Queen of the Boulevard about her and the situation. Since I'm his Momager, I will have him play it on our front lawn when he gets back from camp. Especially considering Karen likes to walk in front of my house on her Starbucks route. 

We'll go back down the shore when E gets home. It's just a lot more fun when we can take a friend of his with us. He's at that age that he isn't that interested in being with just us, and we're not that interested in hanging with a kid that doesn't want to hang with us. I remember being twelve and only wanting to hang with my friends. He also is doing a short theater camp at Curtain Up, the company he did Aladdin through. They're doing The Addams Family. He has so long between Wekeela and school starting, I wasn't having him sit around for a month. 

I have no other real news. This was more just an update to get myself back here. I also didn't want to start with a giant rant. Because you know, I've said, that's partially why I stopped writing. I was ranting all the time. Or I wanted to rant. I also don't really have the time. I'm not at a desk anymore. I used to write when I sat at a desk. Today. I actually took my laptop to the POOL. But I can barely see because of the glare. Not because I'm turning a year older on Monday. Although, I'm thinking I may need to see an eye doctor too. 

It's a gorgeous, perfect ten day today though and I feel like I'm making weird tan lines on my legs with the laptop on them. I'll end here, being thankful AF that the town pool is open this summer. I was clearly the angriest person in Glen Rock last summer without my favorite spot. I'm thankful for the Wednesday late night here. Thankful that I ran into mom friends and acquaintances I haven't seen in two summers, one new old friend or old new friend that I haven't seen in like fifteen years, and that I'm back at my perch at the second umbrella, usually surrounded by my people. You know who you are.