Summer Sons

Suzanne sat back and basked in some of the last rays of the late summer sun. In only one short week she would be back into the swing of the school year, which meant being rushed, frantic, and stressed out. Being a teacher, Suzanne reveled in her summers and tried to use them as time to reconnect with herself and her family. Unfortunately, her sons and husband had been so busy this summer that she had barely seen them at all.

Suzanne's husband had been away on business trips quite frequently that summer and her sons, Michael and Aiden, had decided to fill their summer with baseball, friends, and girls. With the start of the new school year also came every single sport they could get into, clubs, homework, friends, and even more girls. Suzanne thought often about the days when she would spend the entire day with her sons, going to museums, the playground, or even just hanging around the house with them. She longed for those simpler days when her sons actually enjoyed spending time with her and at least acknowledged her existence.

As Suzanne finished her last fun novel of the summer, a realization came to her. The novel she was reading was about a family that had lost touch with each other and ended up not speaking to one another for 20 years. Suzanne felt a horrible pain in her stomach at the thought of being that out of touch with her family. Her sons were already slipping away from her, and soon Aiden would be off to college and she would see him even less than she already did. She knew she had to do something to reconnect with her family and ensure they were no longer strangers living in the same house.

After thinking over her current situation with her sons, Suzanne decided that it would be a good idea to plan a quick family trip. Since her sons had little free time in between preparing for school and baseball games, she had to prepare to do as much family bonding as possible in a short amount of time. The family lived in a small town just outside of Toledo, Ohio, so Suzanne had to make sure that their quick trip didn't involve much travel time and little travel cost as well. Ohio is not exactly bursting with big-city attractions and culture, but after thinking over her options, Suzanne decided to go to the most exciting nearby city she could think of - Cleveland.

Cleveland would be the setting for her family's reconnection excursion, and after considering how her sons were going to react, most likely with looks of boredom and discontent, she knew exactly how to convince them. They would spend two days in Cleveland exploring every option Cleveland had in the area of entertainment. They would go to an Indians game, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Great Lakes Science Center, and a Browns pre-season game. Suzanne would cover her sons' love of sports, music, and science all in one short trip. She knew they wouldn't be too thrilled about traveling to these places with their mother, but hoped they would come around.

Suzanne told Michael and Aiden about her bright idea for a late summer family excursion, and Michael came up with the customary expected reply, "But Mom, why would we want to go to Cleveland? Can't we just stay here and spend time with our friends?"

After reassuring her sons that the trip would be worthwhile, and bribing them with new cell phones for the new school year, they began to pack up to get ready for their trip. Suzanne's husband, Bill, of course was on another business trip and would not be joining them in their end-of-summer extravaganza, but Suzanne was still happy that she would be able to have some time alone with her boys who were growing up way too quickly for her.

The boys and Suzanne all loaded into the SUV and got on the road as fast as a mother and two teenage boys who are dragging their feet can. When they arrived and checked in at the hotel, Suzanne breathed a sigh of relief. This was going to be a nice, relaxing time with her sons that she was going to remember forever. Just as Suzanne was collecting her luggage, though, she spotted a familiar sport jacket in the hotel bar. The man looked to be about Bill's age, height, and build, and he was sitting next to a gorgeous blond, flirtatiously chatting her up. That couldn't be... thought Suzanne, but then she took another look and realized it was. There he was. Bill was sitting at the bar with another woman, stroking her back and buying her another round of drinks.

Suzanne didn't quite know what to do next, so she grabbed her bags quickly, and ran out of the lobby to get the boys out of the car and into the hotel room. She was in a state of shock and was trying with every fiber of her being to maintain a sense of normalcy in her life at the moment. As soon as she got to the car, the boys could tell something was up. "What's wrong, Mom?" asked Aiden.

"Nothing," Suzanne replied. "I just want to get settled in quickly and get out to all of the attractions we've come here to see. We have the Indians game in just two hours, so we better get dressed and start heading that direction."

Suzanne unpacked her clothes and got dressed with absolutely no concentration on the tasks at hand. They arrived at the Indians game, grabbed their seats, and the game proceeded. She made every effort to focus on the baseball game and the fun time she was having with her sons, but the image of Bill with his hand on the back of some mysterious blond kept creeping into her mind. Soon, a batter named Bill stepped up to the plate, and she started bursting into tears.

"Mom, what on earth is going on?" asked Aiden.

"I'm sorry, honey. I've just got some things on my mind," said Suzanne. "If you'll just excuse me." Suzanne ran down the stairs to the ladies room as quick as she could and tried to regain her composure. How could he do this to me? she thought. We have been together so long and he has never even alluded to the fact that he was unhappy.

Suzanne tried to gather her thoughts and came to a sudden realization: she wasn't happy with Bill. For the past ten or so years, they had always been polite to each other and supported each other as parents, but they never had any romantic evenings together and didn't do much as a couple anymore. Maybe this would actually be the chance to get out of a dead-end relationship and start fresh. Still, though, Bill could have had a little more class and at least let Suzanne in on the fact that he was no longer happy with her instead of just sneaking around behind her back.

Suzanne headed back to her seats with a renowned sense of self. "Well, boys," she said. "This trip is just the start of us rekindling our mother-sons relationship. From this day on, we are going to start having a more meaningful life together."