"OC'd" and Bob Marley

Are their any moms out there who have "OC'd" this summer? It's just a little term I invented to describe a puzzling situation I am experiencing. Here's the definition if you are confused.

"OC'd" (abbrev. for "over-camped") .noun. verb. the process by which an anxious stay-at- home mother has over-scheduled a child in too many darned summer camps. The phenomenon usually occurs in anticipation of a summer filled with bored cries and whines, "can I have a snack?" , "he's breathing on me", and the mother's cries of "close the refrigerator for the 14th time in 15 minutes" and "close the back door, you are letting all the air conditioning out" and "pick your toys up". "Over-camping" usually backfires for the mother, as instead of getting a break from carpooling and rushing out the door in the morning in a flurry of teeth brushing and breakfast inhaling during the school year, she is still rushing out the door and shuttling the kids from one camp to another because they only last 3 hours which is not really long enough to even get home and start a project.

Next year the stay-at-home/work-at-home mother will try the method she grew up with. The kids stay at home and play in the woods all day or the neighbor's barn. The kid will explore and imagine and DREAM. The mother will enjoy her kids without having to be here or there at an expected time.

On to the next topic.....let me close the refrigerator door first.

I recently had the opportunity to have a college-roommate reunion of sorts with 2 friends. We had some GOOD TIMES together back in the day. Fourteen years, location, husbands, and 2 kids each came between us. So when one of my friend's parents offered their beach condo to us for the weekend, we jumped at the chance to relax and reconnect. We left our husbands with the kids and peeled out of our respective driveways in a cloud of burned rubber. We vegetated on the beach for 2 days. We laughed and talked and the years magically peeled away. It was as if it used to be. We listened to Jimmy Buffett, Bob Marley, Dave Matthews, and Blues Traveler. Music has a way of transporting you to a different place and our favorite bands back in the day did just that.

So here's to you LLM and ATM. I had a BLAST! I will never forget you guys and look forward to our annual reunion. Let's not ever lose each other again. I'll leave you with a quote from a legend:

"Good friends we have, oh, good friends we've lost
Along the way.
In this great future, you can't forget your past;
So dry your tears, I seh......."

Oh yeah, and beware the "DSDD's"