A few days ago, someone posted in a local Facebook mom’s group and it totally caught my eye. It was something along the lines of, “Hey! I’m a teacher who’s off for the summer. Who’s interested in some play dates for their kids?” Yes. Speaking my language.
I had really (I mean REALLY!) wanted to post something similar, pretty much the day I began summer vacation but felt…well…odd. It might be a stretch, but I felt a bit like Danny and Sandy (from Grease) as they began their not-more-than-a-summer fling. I would be entering a friendship/relationship with the intention of it only being for a few months and I didn’t know how other people might take it. Would they feel used? Would it be hard? Would it be weird? While it’s not quite as scandalous as a college fling down at the Jersey shore (…), it turns out, there are a lot of ‘us’ out there.
So, here I am. Here we are. In search of summer friends. I can’t commit to being a great friend September through June. I won’t lead anyone on in that department. I’m pretty awful at texting or emailing during the week unless you’re family, it’s an emergency, or you’re awake at 5am. I can’t don’t always want to spend weekend afternoons carpooling kids to jump castle birthday parties. There are ten loads of laundry to do, report cards to write, papers to grade, curriculum to plan, and I’m really, really sorry that I can’t plan a pedicure with a lot of any advance notice. I am Sandy Olsson (did you know that was her last name?) looking for a few Danny Zukos. Or vice versa. I can be Danny.
It’s hard being a teacher mom. As I’ve written about before, we go from 0 to 60 and then back down to 0 again over the course of a few short months. As a result, we are balancing a fine line between working moms and stay-at-home moms and having to navigate the relationships, social circles, playgroups and activities of our friends – most of which stay pretty consistent throughout the year (one extreme or the other). It’s difficult to be the seemingly fair-weather friend who infiltrates the Wednesday morning fitness class only on vacation. It’s also hard to have too much time to cultivate relationships for a few months of the year and not nearly enough time the other nine.
So, to my summer friends – thanks for being there and understanding that I can’t be “summer me” all year long. Thank you for taking me in when I am around and for not making me feel like an outsider. Finally, thank you for understanding the complexities of our seasonal friendships.
Signed,
Sandy (…or Danny. I’m flexible.)
