Things rarely turn out as I've planned them...

... and this summer is no different.

I had some really nice ideas about what I wanted to do this summer and I also planned a few things that we could do as a family since it's probably the last year our oldest son will have time for us. No matter what weather we got we'd have a great time, I thought.

By late May all my plans had been crushed and I found myself stuck in other peoples plans. I was quite furious, they had planned my involvement without asking me if I wanted to be part of it and almost every week of my summer was booked by different people with different plans. Even more devious was the fact that I couldn't say no or refuse since that would make people that I care a lot about sad.

Then I got the call about my beloved niece, she's in trouble and needed to get away from it all for a while. Could I take her in? I love her like my own so the answer was easy, of course I would. And so I had an angry and sad little girl to look after on top of it all, and I also got a long long list of instructions about what to do or not from her mother. The first thing I did was to ignore that list, I don't agree with her mothers parenting techniques and that my nice needs to stay with me is proof enough that I'm right.

Over the weeks I've helped my niece relax and peel off layer after layer of sadness and pain and now she's finally feeling better and she's laughing and smiling again. This summer hasn't turned out like I had planned or hoped for but I don't mind because having her here with me is worth so much more. She shares many of my interests and most of all the love for birds and we're out daily to look for birds together, she was the one that first spotted a rare bird and now she's all exited about it. =)

I do miss having the time to read through the blogs that I follow and seeing what you all are up to this summer and this also brings me to my next subject; I'm about to stop blogging for a while. How long, I don't know. My husbands vacation starts now and I can't get away from what every one else has planned for me to do this summer any longer.

I wish you all a great summer and I'll see you when things calms down around here. =)