And just like like that... summer was over.

Second grade and Kindergarten are knocking on the door and Mom and Dad are as desperate as ever. We are whispering the same prayers that I suppose every God-fearing Mommy and Daddy pray at the brith of their children and then again and again throughout life.

"God protect her." "God be near." "Please help us."

These are the real prayers. The true prayers. The kinds of prayers that filled the Temple on Passover or in the hushed silence of a Good Friday Apostle hidden in a room upstairs. We mean these prayers in big ways.

Coloring, after all, is serious business in Kindergarten.

I sometimes wonder if Joseph and Mary enjoyed summertime with the boy Jesus....

Staying up until way after the sun went down.

Campfires on Thursdays and Monday morning snuggles.

Perfecting cannonballs in the lake, special treats for no reason other than the fact that it is summer, and sleepy stories in a hammock.

The Evangelists don't tell us much about the boy Jesus other than that he showed up in the temple one day and taught everyone a thing or two about the Divine because, you know, he was about his Abba's business. I don't know why they don't tell us much about his boyhood but I do imagine the laugh of Jesus' 6 year old voice would shake you and me back into childhood if we could hear it right now.