Summer nights

I love summer. I want it to last forever. I say that knowing perfectly well that I don't really mean it. It's just nights like this that I have that short-lived wish. I just got home from barbecuing at my friends Jenn and Paul's house.

We sat outside under an umbrella and had shish kabobs, rice and fruit. Sarah and I took turns holding Paul and Jenn's new baby, Riley, and helping her in the kitchen. It was all very grown up.

But tonight was one of those where it was the perfect temperature to sit outside in a short-sleeved shirt after the sun went down. It was fun for the Jenn, Sarah and I to be together again after a hiatus. We haven't hung out like that since last summer, or at least fall, when Jenn and Paul's lives was very different. They didn't have a house or a baby then.

Holding a baby at this stage in life for me is a funny mix of "Wow, I'm not ready for this" and entertaining thoughts of what it would be like to have one. This is why I might leave it to friends to have kids for a little while longer. I can come hold them and feed them and bounce them for awhile, then give them back.

Lesson learned: Riley is great, but I like his mom best.