So, recently my enthusiasm in yearning for “back to school” has been waning. As the days progressed, I became more and more melancholy in realizing that this is our last week of summer vacation. God, I love my kids! I love them with such a tender sweetness that is hard to describe. But I realize they are growing. And I am slowly letting go. These feelings of sweetness combined with a pensiveness have defined my mood this past week.
Wait .. tastes of sweetness and sorrow. Do you know that a fictional character combined these tastes into a famous (also fictional) candy?
Yes! Littmus W. Block invented the Littmus Lozenge after he returned from the ugliness of the Civil War as a mere teenager. He found that his mama and sisters had succumbed to disease and that his daddy had died in the war, AND that his house had been burned down by the Yankees. This young man invented a candy that would bring sweetness into a world of sorrow. Those who tasted it noticed sweet flavors of root beer and strawberry. And also another more unspecified flavor. One that would make them sad, or missing someone, or longing for something. The secret ingredient was “sorrow.” 
I have been tasting the Littmus Lozenge this past week.
(My thoughts are summarized from the children’s book Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo.)
Amidst my wistfulness, we did have a fun-filled last week of summer, marked by a trip to Knoebels Amusement Park,
a visit to Eckley Miners’ Village,
and a fruitless quest for hermit crabs. (Truthfully, this last one is a blessing in disguise! Hermit crabs — YUCK!!)
We also stayed up late, slept in, cuddled, and laughed a lot. I wouldn’t trade these days of summer for anything. And I am one blessed Momma to be able to spend summertime with my babes! <3