Part I: Friday

Did you know dusk in the summer is 8:45 p.m.?

Me either. That is why I was at the park with my three kids, two pizzas, four blankets, sweatshirts, and a cooler at 7 p.m.

Summer is wonderful. Frozen gets shown on blowup screens in parks and you meet your friends and your neighbors and it is great. Except that QT likes to wrestle his sister on the grass and everyone has to go to the bathroom at a different time, and there is only one bathroom for a park full of kids and the line is long and there is a possibility that your 3-year-old pees on you while you are holding him, and there is a possibility that one or more of your children pull a Britney Spears and walk into a bathroom with no shoes on.

There is ice cream at 10:00 and trying to pack up by the flashlight app on your phone. There are three very tired kids crammed into the green car because the van is in the shop and you aren't quite sure how you are going to be able to pick it up the next day because of said three kids and your husband is away, but for now you are grateful that you decided to meet up with friends and neighbors because without them, there would have been no way that you would have been able to navigate the bathroom situation, chasing QT around in the dark, the ice cream, the park, the pizza.

And once again, you got to hear the majority of the movie, without actually seeing it, and it was pretty amazing when all the songs came on and everyone was singing, little kids, big kids, dads. And this is what summer should be about, big outdoor movies, late night ice cream and pizza. And sure, you will pay for it the next morning, but for now, between the bathroom breaks, under the summer sky, the music playing, the crowd singing, QT still for a moment in your lap, you are grateful for the experience and for the fact that you have friends in the crowd willing to keep an eye on every combination of kid you leave behind and you think this is good. This is good.