Over the summer I spent time thinking about the simple joys.  A friend asked about our bathrobes.  The boys each have their own-younger son’s robe is black with grey skulls…very him.  Hubby and I gave robes to each other as presents early on in our relationship.  Oldest son has a red and black robe.  They are all soft and cuddly.  And they all keep a person from being naked.  A robe’s purpose is simple.  I had never given thought to the idea of all the comforts a robe brings to a person.  Like I said, keeps you from being naked after a shower.  But layered over pajamas and it makes you warm and cuddly when you need it.  When you are sick, lying around all day in your robe is about the best thing you can do.  Out of work?  Walk around with your robe over your clothes, just makes you feel better.  It’s a great part of your wardrobe that you may have taken for granted.  This friend didn’t have a robe.  He does now.  After we gave it to him (early birthday present), he wore it all weekend.  He gets the simple joys of a robe.

I have friends and coworkers that have summer homes.  Many times they share stories about the fun times they have at these places.  Other times though, they simply talk about all of the work involved in maintaining the summer houses.  Now I am not fortunate enough to own a summer home.  I hope if I ever get to that point, I will remember what I just wrote…fortunate enough to own a summer home.  If I feel like I wouldn’t be able to enjoy the upkeep, I’ll remember just to rent a summer house.  In the meantime, hubby and I have taken to calling our screened-in gazebo the “summer home”.  Very little upkeep involved here.  Put it up in the spring, take it down in the fall.  Any moments spent in our backyard at the “summer home” are wonderful.  The boys use it a fort.  Simple-poles, screen, and some plastic yard chairs but the immediate feel of a summer home.  It captures the essence of a summer place which is simply a different place than normal.

I accomplished a “Trading Spaces” type remodel to youngest son’s bedroom.  He walked in when I was almost done and he had such joy on his face.  The part I enjoyed was adding the simple details.  A picture from camp tape to the side of his bookshelves so he can see it each morning.  A sheep with wool that his Nana gave out in his class last year taped above the picture.  These are some of the things that are clearly important to this seven-year-old since he’s kept track of them for longer than a week.  I tried to see the room from his point of view.  He still liked how it is painted (the shark from Jaws on one wall, hammerheads, giant squid, jellyfish, octopus on the other walls).  He just wanted it to feel like he had more space to play.  We got him a futon and he loves it.  Rearranged the dresser, desk, and shelves and he feels like he has a brand new room.  I’m doing the same for oldest son.  The simple catch is they have to keep it clean as this is the last time I’ll do an overhaul like this (at least till they are teenagers-which isn’t that far away).  So the simple task for me is to teach maintenance.  I get to be the mean mommy and help them remember to tidy as they go.

We finally got a game system.  One simple joy of an X-Box is bowling.  We laughed and laughed and got lots of strikes and gutters.  Younger son is really good at boxing and this makes me glad it is a video game and only the avatar got hurt!  Still, after playing with X-Box for an hour, the boys asked to play a game of Scrabble.  I’m glad I have an old board that has wood tiles.  I heard the wood tiles have gone the way of the dodo.

Finally, a simple joy I keep summoning up to my mind’s eye is hubby teaching the boys how to skip stones.  Does summer and life get any better than that?  I don’t think so.

Enjoy the simple joys.