my serendipitous summer.

The last month of school this year might have been the craziest month of my adult life. I can’t be 100% sure, but I’m close to 95% at least. As much as it was wild and crazy {more on my new teaching job soon!}, it also had a sort of serendipity to it that I love.

Usually by May and most definitely by June I know my plans for summer on the job front. Since I get summers off, I usually use this time to babysit since the extra money is nice {and needed} and I have no other real commitments yet in my life. The past 2 summers I spent my days in Beacon Hill– mostly just afternoons, and it was perfect. I’d take the train into the city, hang out with Sophie for a couple of hours each day and then head back home no worse for the wear. I liked it, being able to be in Boston, and the hours were just right. But this year, Sophie has a new little sister, and so a full-time Nanny has got the job.

I knew this all year so I had plenty of time to figure out what I was going to do this summer. Except for that I didn’t. I didn’t send any emails or make any calls or give any effort towards finding a new gig. I think it was both that I didn’t have the energy to find a new family and also that I just didn’t want to. My requirements for a summer job are kind of tough… I just want to make a little money, preferably involving kids, but for a minimal number of hours and with minimal effort. But I still want “me” time, too, and a good amount of it, which is why I don’t want a full-time thing. This is my summer vacation, after all. My rest and recharge time. It’s just nice to have something to do every day, somewhere to go, someplace to be.

I thought about tutoring for a hot minute. I made a flyer and sent it to a few people I know and when I didn’t hear back from anyone I just thought, well, I guess I could just take the summer off. Not ideal for my bank account, but do-able.

And then I got a phone call that was what some people might call fate. I think I’m calling it that. {I’m a true believer in “everything happens for a reason”.} The family that I nannied for right out of college needed a last-minute sitter for the summer. Just for after camp for a few hours in the afternoons in July. Their mom had just gotten a new job that she needed to start right at the end of school and they wondered if I was free or new anyone who was.

Free? I was free as a bird.

And these kids? Well, they are my favorite.

So that’s where you’ll find me on weekday afternoons this summer. Hanging out with these two littles who I’ve literally known since they were babies. Feeling thankful that I didn’t have any other plans {be it misfortune or laziness, I still haven’t figured it out}. We’re doing a lot of reading, swimming, lemonade-standing. Also, lots of Boston things… museums and boat rides. All the best stuff.

It’s all worked out perfectly. Just the way it’s supposed to.