It started when my daughter hit her teen years - I thought it would be fun for her to get to spend some time with her cousins, and so a lovely tradition was born. The kids would come in for a week or so to splash in the pool, walk to the local shops and just hang out. (Aside: This is how I found out what your cart looks like when you take five teenage girls to the grocery store and tell them to each pick out two things they want - you get nine kinds of fruit and seven kinds of ice cream. I still think those are good choices...)
I enjoyed watching them relax and enjoy themselves, and having friends also kept my kids busy and out of trouble. One of those win-win situations in life.
The tradition took a break for several years when I ran away from home in the camper van - it took a while for my life to settle out after that - but for the last three summers, I've gotten a delightful reprise as the youngest of my nieces have opted to come down, even though I no longer have teens of my own or a pool to draw them in.
Sophia arrived this weekend for what, since she's about to enter her senior year of high school, will probably be my last hurrah. I was a bit unsure how this would work, since this is the first time ever I've hosted just one teen. Usually they come in herds. I know what to do with the herds - make sure they have food, water and transportation to their activity of choice, then all you need to do is sit back and enjoy the interplay. With just one teen, that interplay becomes problematic.
However, once she got here, and we sat down to talk over some of our hopes and ideas for the week, my uneasiness lifted. She is independent and largely self-entertaining. She has some definite ideas around what she'd like to do, so I don't have to make stuff up, and amazingly enough, seems to think I'm an acceptable substitute for company her own age.
This will be fun!
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