Little Triumphs Among the Failures

I had BIG hopes for this summer. I always have big hopes. And that is the triumph of hope over pessimism in me.

My husband always urges me to only project doing what I can actually accomplish. But where is the challenge in that?

This summer I set out with a number of goals for the family. Among them was teaching the older two to make a meal each week. This would take methodical instruction in different cooking methods. I had the book, I had the drive. We would work on breakfast, lunch, desserts, dinner. But while my time became more and more limited, my son took up my passion and sought new instructors. 

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We have also worked for the past several summers on teaching Ben to ride a bike. (I use "we" in the sense of our marital union; we being the other half of me.) He has stubbornly resisted. This year did not start out promisingly with Ben declaring as usual that accidents happen on bikes and there is no need to be able to ride one. But a trip to Mackinac Island in May where bikes are the norm of transportation (the alternative being horses and feet) and a decision to come back in July and bike the island, did the trick. Once he decided it was a worthy reason, he learned in no time, and in our elation, his dad took him to "look" at bikes. And came home with a new one. He biked 8 miles without incident on our trip to the Island.

My last goal, to teach the kids to do more chores, feels like it has stalled. They did work on learning to clean the bathrooms with me early on, and Kyrie took on some of the weeding yesterday to earn a little money. It turns out Evie loves to husk corn. But the basement is still a pit and the girls room is actually starting to smell a little and it has me feeling a little stymied. But still there is the bathroom.

So maybe all my expectations weren't met. I still call this summer:

The Triumph of Hope.