Mothering on an Island: Patty on Balance

The whole time I have summered on an island it has been as a mother. We started coming here when my husband built us a house when my daughters were five and 8. He had spent summers as a child on a lake in Wisconsin and he wanted something like that for his children (He explains that an island is an inside out lake.) We brought our son out here when he was a week old and his sisters were 9 and 6. That summer we had to put an addition on our porch to put in a bigger washing machine and dryer. For me summers here have always been about the work of making sure there was enough food, dry towels and clean dishes. Always about cooking and cleaning and entertaining others. Always about waiting for moments of quiet. Then there were the horrifying summers when the girls were teenagers and stayed in town and got into trouble. This summer my son is eighteen and is working on an other island. He gets in his little outboard every morning and I watch him head out as I sit with my tea on the porch. After a long sit I get up and go for a swim. I love to swim in August when the ocean has warmed just enough to make it easier to stay in.

Mothering is a lot of hard work. The hardest work I have ever done. It is harder on an island in some ways but I have always looked forward to it. This summer my daughter and her fiance came for a long week end and cooked me breakfast and made us all a really good meal, they helped us split and stack wood. She is 27. It was wonderful.

This piece first appeared as a comment on 14 Summers.