My Summer Daughter

I have a "Summer Daughter".  What a delight.

I LOVE having boys.  Everything about boys.  Adventurous, Dirty, Exhausting, Insecure, Brave - and on and on and on - and USUALLY, no drama.  Although we are hitting the teenage years, we might have some hormonal drama yet to come.  AND, not that girls couldn't be all the things I listed above - I just don't know - I don't have girls.

Carolyn and her daughter were in Denver to visit one time and we were "building" something.  Then my next action, was well, to say "how can we destroy this?"  She reminded me, we don't have to "destroy what we build".  AH - girls build it to play with it; boys build it to tear it down.

We are just different.  Boys and girls.  That's okay.  We should be different.  We should also not want boys to be more like us or us more like them.  We are different.

But this summer, I have a girl. In addition, to my two boys. A beautiful, wonderful, sweet, kind-hearted daughter.  She is everything you would want in a daughter.

In fact, I'm so used to her being here, and we now have friends here - I keep saying there are "four of us".

She lives with her mom on the mainland 9 months out of the year.  With her dad, for 2 months in the summer and a month during the year in California.  But this summer, she is my "summer daughter".

She's a swimmer.  She calls me when something is wrong.  Her mom calls me too when something is wrong.  In fact, her mom calls me and tells me she is so glad I'm here. It takes a mighty big person to refer to someone else as her daughters "summer mama".  As she said (her mom) - "when my daughter loves another woman other than her mama, this woman must be special and deserve my respect."

As I told her dad, 13 year old girls don't like anyone. She LIKES ME. Granted, I do come with two boys her age (she is exactly in between the two) - so I know that doesn't hurt my ratings any... ;-) 

And she wants to be here.  With us.  And the worst part is, so does her dad.  He's just trying to do what he said he would do - and BOY is he grumpy.  He's grumpy at her.  He's grumpy to everyone around him.  He's GRUMPY.  The sad thing is - he's not a grumpy guy.  He's the happiest guy in the world. Usually.

There is a couple whom lives next door to my summer daughter and her dad.  Their names are Davey and Ryan.  We were at their house for dinner.  Towards the end of the evening, Davey and I were on the porch.  He says to me "Lily LOVES you".  "I know", I replied, "so does her dad." He replies, "well, we all know that".

All in good time.

In the meantime, I have a summer daughter.  She has a "Summer Mama" - and if she has her way, one day,  my grandson will be named Oliver.... ;-)  Oh, the things girls try to plan.....