It is the end of the summer. School starts on Monday. Like many parents, I am ready for the boys to go back to school. I spent the last week buying supplies, meeting teachers, buying shoes, picking up schedules, taking monkeys to get haircuts, and answering about a million cell phone calls from one monkey or the other wanting something or to go somewhere. Parenting has become quite irritating for me and Manly Man. We are all ready for a change. Today everyone was aggravated. I tried to smooth things over and make happy, but no dice. I finally gave up, grabbed a cold drink, and went out in the garden. It has rained almost every day for the last week. So this evening was the perfect time to pull up my little stool and start weeding. The temperature was cool and the weeds came up easy. The ground was moist, but not muddy. It smelled good. There were crickets chirping and birds calling. No one came outside to talk to me. We all need a little time apart. As it got to dark to tell the weeds from the plants, I came inside. I found everyone nice and quiet watching movies or reading. Everything changes on Monday. I think we are ready.