All seasons considered, I pick summer

Summer is the best season. It's the happiest season. The sunniest season. And even if it rains, it's not a hard, biting, sleety kind of rain that slices into your skin. It's a pitter-patter on the roof in the morning, a refreshing rinse that feels good on your face.

Even if you don't have a great summer vacation coming, you still have weekends in the summer that beg you to get outside and just sit on the stoop and soak in the sun.

I took care of the yard on Thursday and Ali and I made a grocery raid Friday night, so there were only a few chores keeping us from fun this weekend.

 I got her tacos one of those nights when Jeff was out and she was drooling over the Taco Bell bag and musing a bit. She asked why I never order for myself at the Bell and I said it had a lot to do with my excess middle. She launched into a diatribe that Gloria Steinem would have approved, telling me I was in great shape; that PhotoShop is to blame for women's body issues and that I should enjoy myself.

Then, she started waxing poetic about her tacos.

"If I like you, I'll share cupcakes or cookies or just about anything. But I have to really like you to share my tacos."

I enjoyed my bite just fine. :) 

Later, I realized that despite her solid self esteem, I've failed her in a different way. She was folding laundry -- one of her weekly chores -- when she exclaimed: "What in the world is this anyway?"

She was befuddled by a rectangle of silk and elastic. "It's a half-slip," I said.

"Who wears this stuff? What in the world is it for?" she asked.

I invoked Lois Stewart's name and advised her that proper ladies wear slips so you can't see through their dresses. She's not convinced, but I can work on that. She is the kid, after all, who tells perfect strangers to put shirts on.

She had a friend over while Jeff and I met up with our DeCourcy friends for the wedding of our friend, Molly.

It was a lovely event, and Molly's smile lit up the venue. She has a great smile on a normal day, but the wattage Saturday was enough to clear up the gray skies outside.

Ali had consented to go to the gym with me earlier in the day, so I was feeling OK about stealing doughnut holes from a side table on my way to the bathroom as the reception got underway.

I did not mean - nor do I accept blame - for others stealing whole doughnuts from the display. There were no rules listed that forbade it, but apparently we were supposed to wait for platters to arrive. This is the risk you take when you launch a new wedding tradition. I would never have swiped a piece from a traditional cake, but the doughnut holes were just piled up there, taunting me.

So, #SorrynotSorry, Molly. I really didn't know, and I was seconds from being hangry. But the doughnuts in lieu of cake was a superb idea.

Sunday had Ali wanting to meet friends over in Plainfield, which isn't as far as Jasonville to drive, but is still a good 45 minutes from Broad Ripple. I conned Jeff into going with me, thinking that

while Ali was at the mall with her pals, he and I could see a movie.

We didn't find a movie we wanted to see so we decided to get our steps in and be outside mall walkers outside. Ten thousand steps is a lot of steps to get at an outside mall. But it was nice weather and we included a couple forays in strip mall land. When she wanted to stay another couple of hours, though, we played the parent card and advised her that this was a good lesson in pre-planning.

Back home, Jeff is grilling. I biked down to the Vegetable Stand to get some of their awesome slaw and found my favorite spot on the back porch. This is summer. I would like a lot more of it, please.

And doughnuts. Doughnuts would be good, too.