A post to share a little joy today… this photo is of all four of my sons jumping off the dock at the river near our home.

#RubinSummer2020 Day #2 – July 3, 2020 – Friday

#RubinBrothers
#CampCoViD192020
#LeadSafeMama
#Portlandia
#MyFourSons

This is a photo I took today of my boys holding hands while jumping off of the dock in to the river together. The new Sellwood Bridge is in the background. This is the dock and “beach” just down the street from our house, the dock my kids have been swimming at / jumping off of every summer for the past 14 years.

Up the hill from the dock is the community pool (that is just a few blocks down the street from our house.) The pool is closed for the summer and this has a huge impact on our kiddos because for the past 14 years, every year, my kids have also been in swim team. Summer swim team shapes their summer (& helps to keep them busy & fit!) A.J. (my almost 18 year old) has won countless ribbons from all the competitive swimming he has done over the years. Last summer was Avi’s second summer on the team. Colescott was also on swim team when he was younger, before he went off to college. Charlie (almost 12 years old) is not quite ready for swim team yet – we tried to start him last year, but he decided to wait a bit even though he is a very strong swimmer. 

Since the community pool is closed because of #CoViD19, this will be our first summer living in the neighborhood and not having a kiddo in swim team! (The first summer not having kiddos wake up for practice every morning at 7:00 a.m. – which is actually a nice little break for a change!) But with the river right here (walking, biking or scootering distance from our home) I’m certain the kids are going to swim most days this summer anyway. Some days (like today) I feel like we are the luckiest family on the planet.

I know many families are experiencing extreme hardship during these complicated times – however I hope you are able to find moments of joy (like this one) amidst the chaos of this wild summer.

Thank you for being here. Thank you for reading and sharing my posts. Have a good holiday tomorrow.

Tamara Rubin
#LeadSafeMama

Left to right
Colescott (age – almost 24), A.J. (age – almost 18),
Avi (age – almost 15-1/2), Charlie (age – almost 12)!