Sometimes I hate summer. I love the added light, but when June hits the garden demands my attention, car shows happen, and camping is crammed in between. The sun constantly beckoning me to be outside exhausts me. I feel like Calvin and Hobbes when they’re in their wagon screaming down a hill.

I realized sometime in the middle of this summer that I wasn’t enjoying myself. I was anticipating the next place we had to go and didn’t live in the moment. It’s really a crying shame, because I’m pretty sure I not only ruin my own good time, but my husband’s as well. He’s a saint for putting up with me.

It reminds me a lot of motherhood. I loved raising my children, but I think the act of being a mother can transform our otherwise fun loving attitudes. I often found myself looking forward to the end of a particular phase without enjoying the one they were in. I had a conversation with a former Mom and Tot mom from a group at our church— we were reminiscing in the worst way, with things like, “the year my kids decided they didn’t want to go to vacation bible school any longer was a bright day for me.”

It wasn’t that I didn’t like helping at such events, but it was always the same week we were leaving for a car show. I’d usher all the kids through the last day with whatever I was manning looking at my watch the whole while. Perhaps my current attitude is a throwback from those days.

So about the beginning of this month, I decided to make a conscious effort to enjoy myself. The beginning of August was the Yakima car show, the scene of last year’s freak car accident my husband and I were in. Everyone is OK now and we’re none worse for the wear, but it caused me extra anxiety.

I tried to concentrate on all the fun events that led up to the moment of impact and pushed the bad memory out of my head. I think I did OK, but in all honestly it may have been because I spend a lot of time alone in the RV during that particular car show. I’m of the “once I’ve seen one car, I’ve seen them all” attitude, plus it’s usually rather hot. My husband is well aware of my lack of enthusiasm for cars and thinks saying, “it’s a dry heat” will make me more tolerant of it. He is more than happy to go look at cars without me by his side. I’m in the RV for moral support when he wants to cool off, to make him sandwiches, and go on the occasional dinner outing.

Also, he just retired in February. As a writer and stay at home mom these past 23 years, I went from being alone all the time to never being alone. You can imagine the pleasure I had at having some quiet time to myself. The only time I didn’t have fun was when the poker run was way too long with too few bathrooms stops.

After that car show, we made our way to Lake Easton State Park for a little post-rod run camping before going home. I used it to put the brakes on my summer and readjust my attitude. In reality, we only have two more events on the calendar. But one of them is to the Dahlia festival in Canby, Oregon. It’s for me. My husband can be the moral support and I’ll tell him “it’s a dry heat” when he complains that all the flowers look the same.

Gretchen Leigh is a stay-at-home mom who lives in Covington. You can read more of her writing on her website livingwithgleigh.com, or follow her on Facebook at “Living with Gleigh by Gretchen Leigh. Her column is always available at maplevalleyreporter.com under the Life section.