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| Fresh cut flowers from this summer's intern, Rachael Bentley |
Each summer, for the past four, at least, my wife has had interns from her company come and stay with our family. Usually these are the children of old friends or family, who through the nepotism common in such situations, have finagled a paid summer gig at her company. Being parents to two boys, my wife and I have welcomed the opportunity to have these interns, exclusively girls, it's been an opportunity to have nieces, cousins, and the loveliest of our good friends' progeny for an extended six week visit. Perhaps it's been even better than having daughters of our own, at the very least it's given our male-centric family a welcome change of dynamic.
We have a big , old house, which seems to have been built for more than a family of four, and it positively hums for the duration of these internships. Dinners seem 'Walton-esque', and left-overs are scarce, or packed for lunch at the office the next day. I've always been a little envious of larger families, these stints in the summer are a bit like having the big family, only without the tuition bills... Of course there's the cut-flowers and the baking, which are such a welcome and pleasant surprise, and our sons' friends seem to linger even longer when these girls are around.
I'm already beginning to wonder who's going to come next summer.
