Spring has finally and definitively hit the Low Country with a bang and a cloud of yellow smoke. The sand gnats are back with a vengeance to feast on pasty arms and legs, slipped into shirts and t-shirts for the first time of the season. Summer isn’t far behind, as children squeal with glee and mothers cry themselves to sleep at night wondering, “What am I going to do with these kids ALL day EVERY day, for the entire summer?”
The smell of sunscreen makes me shudder as I remember Summers Past. I recall the maddening effort and hours of work required to apply sunscreen to wriggling and writhing toddlers, then putting them in the least absorbent and leakiest diapers ever made, also known as- a swim diaper. I would spend 2 hours preparing to go to the beach for 30 minutes before someone was either hungry, needed to go to the potty or was ready to take a nap.
I remember how I chased my oldest child down the beach, like a shot from Baywatch: The Post-Partum Episodes. I remember running in slow motion, my extra 20 pounds of “baby weight” shimmying as I ran furiously. My bathing suit struggled against Mother Nature, barely able to contain the extra bounty God had given me up top to feed my baby. I carried my 1 year old as my 3 year old ran 50 feet ahead of me towards the Atlantic surf.
The smell of insect repellant brings to mind countless days of attempting to stop my children from eating dirt instead of the refreshing popsicles I provided and rescuing unsuspecting frogs and lizards from their tiny toddler tormentors.
As I remember the frustrations that summer carries, I’d be hard pressed not to remember the joys it brings as well. Lazy days spent at the pool as my girls learned to swim, overcoming their fears by taking leaps of faith as they jumped off the side of the pool into their Daddy’s arms.  I look forward to sitting on the back porch, as frogs sing on the pond, and being covered with little girl kisses still sticky-sweet from ripe watermelon and after dinner ice-cream cones.