Summer 2021

I think I will always think back to Summer of 2021 as one of my favorite summers ever which I know is weird to think or say because it was the summer after Mama died. But that summer we rallied around each other and made time together count. I took off random days from work and Daddy and I would meet up with Sis2 and "the kids" (They're not kids anymore) and we did stuff. Went out for lunch. Watched movies at Sis2's house. Went to Academy sports and walked around with Daddy while he shopped. We went to the theater and watched scary movies and ate popcorn. Emmy came over by herself and we took her to eat and paint pottery. We went fishing and let Daddy bait all our hooks. We celebrated Daddy's birthday and Granny's birthday and the 4th of July. Daddy and I had Daddy/daughter dates at the local diner.

We were all freshly vaccinated and threw ourselves out of quarantine, I guess you could say. We'd been apart for so long during the pandemic and we lost so much. Not just Mama...we lost time. Time with her in her illness, yes, but also time with each other and it was as though we couldn't stay apart for very long anymore. 

I look back at photographs from that summer and a wave of gratefulness washes over me in a way that I can't describe. We didn't know then how much darker our lives would get. We couldn't fathom it. We were simply grateful for each other and the freedom to move around in the world together again as we adjusted to the new normal of life without Mama and post pandemic. 

What I remember the most of that summer is how much we laughed. We laughed a lot. And after a year of hardly laughing at all, if ever, it was magical.