Now that we’re all healthy in our house and we’ve had about enough of the winter, I’ve begun to think ahead to the summer and all of the fun it will bring.  I’m trying to get through my arduous teaching assignment this semester by daydreaming about how our little family will occupy itself during those warm, fragrant, summer months.

My wish list for Summer 2010:

1.  A camping trip with H.  We have yet to go camping with him—we had made camping plans on a couple of occasions since he was born, but sickness intervened each time.  This summer will be different, and we WILL go camping with our little guy.  And it’s going to rock!

2.  A trip to the zoo.  The closest zoo (if you don’t count Canada), is in Boston.  We plan on spending a weekend in Boston—eating good food, getting some sunshine, and seeing some “aminals!”

3.  Holden’s 2nd birthday party.  Two years old?!  Already?!  We’re going to have a low-key barbecue at our house.  I can’t believe he is going to be two.

4.  Some light gardening.  Because of our move last year, we didn’t have time to participate in the community garden.  We also moved into our new place too late in the season to get a garden started in our new yard.  This year we would like to have a VERY modest garden…maybe 2 types of vegetables.  We have to trim back some of the tree limbs to get rid of the substantial shade in our yard—but once we do that, we should have a small patch of yard that will be ready for some veggies.

5.  Re-finishing our deck.  This is the only major “chore” I have on my list for the summer.  The deck is in rough shape and needs to be sanded and stained, before all is lost.  It’s probably an entire weekend project, with both Rob and I working on it.  Any volunteers to entertain H while we save our deck from rotting away from the house?:)

6.  Hiking.  We won’t be climbing Camel’s Hump any time soon, but I suspect that Holden might be up for slightly more challenging hikes compared to the ones we tackled last summer.

7.  My 10 year college reunion.  If we can figure out a way to make it down to St. Mary’s for my 10-year college reunion, I will be a very happy camper indeed.  We’d even be able to fit in some family visits while down there.  It would be great.  It would be all the vacation I would need all summer long.

8.  Cookouts, random bonfires, kayaking excursions, yoga, and having a good meal by the lake.  All requirements of any good summer.

9.  Trips to Maine.  A trip to WV to see my folks.

10.  Hopefully, a new job for me.  More on that later.

I was given a drug that disrupted my memory of my former life.  Holden was taken from me and assigned to a surrogate mother.  I had no explicit recollection of Holden, but when I saw him with the surrogate, I found him to be vaguely familiar, and I couldn’t understand why I felt so bothered that he didn’t seem to recognize me.  My curfew (along with others who also belonged to the lower echelon class) was implemented on a random schedule.  Lights would be illuminated, and all lower echelon folks would have to go into hiding.  We couldn’t own any property—we were nomadic, and had to depend on finding a hiding place that would protect us from the authorities just long enough until the curfew was lifted.  It was possible to advance to the higher echelon class, but the requirements for such advancement were never articulated to anyone.  You had to guess which actions  would allow you to successfully advance yourself.  I never knew anyone to be successful, despite the fact that we all tried very hard to escape from the lower echelon.  At some point, I saw Holden again, and began to recover some of my former memories of him.  I was infinitely sad that he didn’t remember who I was.

I woke up from this nightmare, realizing the seriousness of my work situation, and the extent to which it is affecting me.  It is another impetus for change.