Independence day

I spent my Fourth at a barbecue with my friend Sarah, her family and some other mutual friends of ours.

We did all the traditional Forth of July things, like play games, eat hot dogs and hamburgers and have three desserts. The only thing missing were fireworks, sadly.

Before that, we played soccer in the yard. None of us had really come prepared for the all-out battle that ensued between the girls and the boys' teams, so we had to play in flip flops. The grass was a little too prickly to go it bare foot. The girls were demolishing the boys, until they got a few more players so we didn't outnumber them two to one. In the end, we tied.

The Fourth of July miracle was that I made a goal and two assists. Sarah's cousin also should get mention for his gazelle-like leap to head butt the ball that had just traveled almost the length of the field, after it had been head-butted twice already.

Lessons learned: I play better in flip flops than I did for an intramural college team.

River therapy

Last weekend a group of coworkers and I floated a section of a river we live by in those huge, black inter-tubes you get from tire shops. It was fantastic.

Lying in the sun on something buoyant with a drink in my hand was just what I needed to forget the crazy week beforehand. The water was freezing, but works wonders for those with back problems. By the end, though, I took to kneeling on all fours on my tube to keep the least surface area of my skin from touching the water.

My favorite part was watching Katy paddle with a beer in her hand. She seemed to forget that the top of her bottle was open.

On a side note, I think I got my first poison oak. Just a dime-sized patch on my knee. As poison oak goes, it wasn't bad.

Lessons learned: I'm going to do that again.

My first days of summer

I hate to break this to all of you freezing in the north right now, but it was 85 degrees where I live this weekend. My friend Megan and I celebrated by going to a local lake and laying in the sun for three hours. It was so worth the sunburn I got on my back. Then we barbacued, because that's what you do in the summer.

I wore a sundress to church.

On Sunday night, I went for a run in shorts and a tank top at 6 p.m., and it was almost balmy. My running route smelled like lilacs and charcoal, and was full of people just milling around.

Lesson learned: I'm so ready for summer.

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.