human becomings

All they've needed this summer is sunscreen, a pair of shoes and an imagination. 

And really the shoes have been optional.

For months and months the boys have wielded sticks and constructed ramps, building bonds with neighbors and with dirt, barefoot and mostly carefree.

They have been allowed a kind of free-range period that helped me notice who they actually are.

I find myself bewildered by the idea of sending them back to school now, by so much reason to despair coupled with so much reason to hope.

The past few days we've baked and painted nails, played board games and watched Vivo, visited the pool and the cartoon library. I have lain awake at night, trying to think of everything that might ease their way, wishing that would be enough.