For the past week we have been appreciating and hugely enjoying perfect summer weather.  True, because of the drought, we have also been hoping for rain events that have been slight in number, but overall, we have nothing to complain about.  This has been, thus far, a good summer for people who look forward to typically such weather after a long, cold winter.

The weather has been bringing more people out of their homes than usual.  One of our neighbours, a young mother of two infants, loves to talk about her children.  She is conflicted about motherhood, wanting to enjoy being with her children, unwilling to miss any important milestones, yet, though her family fortunes are in good health, does not feel she is suited by personality to be at home with the children full-time. She resents her care-givers seeing her children grow and learn and mature throughout their care hours, and her short time with them, restricted to the busy hours pre- and post-working hours.  She is offended as well that her parents are no longer as anxious to spend time with the children now that they are more demanding, and require to be played with and constantly stimulated.

Another neighbour, who now has two infant grandchildren worries incessantly about their welfare.  The first child, a little boy, underwent a series of health problems when he was younger, and now appears to be completely healthy.  The latest one, now six months old, a little girl, is colicky, refuses to eat, shows little interest in drinking, and the child-care specialists have no idea why she is reacting to food and drink as she does.  They have recommended feeding the child milk while she sleeps, though there is danger inherent in that, to ensure she is properly hydrated.

Yet another neighbour, an ebullient man, friendly and open-hearted over the several decades we have known him has become an inveterate world traveller.  He needs to occupy himself.  He has ample financial resources and lives comfortably, but does so alone now.  His wife, whom he married late in life and who was younger than him with two children of her own from an earlier marriage, finally left him, no longer willing to cope with his roving eye and his penchant to take up with other young women.  A succession of younger women began to live temporarily with him after his wife left, but nothing seemed to jell for him.  His wife refused to return, though he pleaded with her to do so.  Finally, he adopted a little homeless cat, and found a modicum of satisfaction there.  In the meanwhile, he undertakes at least two exotic destinations each year, with a few more modest ones thrown in for good measure.

People coping with their privileged circumstances, finding chasms in their lives difficult to cope with, despite those privileged circumstances.