“What does that mean?” I asked him when he was taking a drink of water. A twinkle in his blue eyes, not that different from his dad’s, told me it had to be inappropriate.
“No, Mom, that is nothing bad. It’s a phrase used to describe something that is Full send. You know, like when you just go for it. You give ‘er the beans. Go ahead, look it up,” he dared me, “You will see.” And so, I did, and guess what? My 12-year-old was being completely honest with me – there were no secondary meanings. Just full effort. Full send. It’s a super appropriate phrase for our family any time of year, especially during the summer with longer days and a teacher mom who has the summers off. We only get so many summers with our children before they have summer jobs and then likely don’t want to spend as much time with us as they grow into adolescence.
So, we go big. A lot. There are very few days without adventure, and so on this eve before the first day of school – of sixth and seventh grade and me entering my 26th year, I don’t regret a day of full summer, full send. I can only speculate where the beans analogy comes from, but we are harvesting our garden, making pesto, and picking all the fruits. There are only so many hours left to enjoy unencumbered summer fun. Why would we spend that indoors or doing chores? Don’t get me wrong; we need to be responsible and do things like mow the lawn and complete some projects like cleaning out the garage and barn. But we crushed our garden this year, and we will have a lot of squash and herbs to see us through the winter. Tomatoes, cukes, and lettuce have consistently joined our dinner table. Geoff harvests basil like a surgeon. No leaf is wasted. Give her the beans, undoubtedly.
I wonder what it is like to live somewhere without seasons. How does the growing season work? How can one give her the beans all the time? We can only be part-time farmers in the summer because our work responsibilities are fewer. We are lucky that there are quiet parts towards the end of each season, which is when we gear up for the season ahead. When Geoff asked if we should plant a third lettuce crop, I reminded him of soccer starting and no time to grocery shop anymore, let alone tend a garden. He is helping to coach our school's varsity girls’ soccer team, and I coach the MS team. Our fall calendar has already been full send. Give her the beans!
Geoff recently brought home an ancient croquet set from his parent's house on his dad’s 82nd birthday. Croquet. Exactly what our “full send” family needed to cap off an incredibly active summer. Although as I’m writing this at the kitchen table, I can hear their laughter coming from the “front croquet court” (aka our lawn) through the window, each one of them taking turns giving her the beans. We are ready to return to school. We will give her the beans there, too, to the best of our ability. Geoff will be substitute teaching as our school is just one of countless in America kicking off the year understaffed, and he has some availability before he must give winter the beans. So, enjoy the last of the basil, the height of those sunflowers, and the full harvest juice of those peaches. And if you have teachers in your life, please be extra patient this year as our children return to classrooms everywhere. Thank you to those who are stepping in and up to help out where and when you can for those short-staffed schools of hope in our communities.
Heather Ehrman Krill is a writer- wife- teacher-mom who lives in the White Mountains of NH with her husband, Geoff, a paraplegic and professional skier, and their two children, Carver and Greta who are 12 and 11 respectively. Please check out her novel True North, website www.heatherkrill.com, author FB page Heather Krill, and @heatherkrill1 on Twitter.