Summer Delight
I remember summer days in my backyard growing up - hours playing in the sprinkler - making mud puddles- riding bikes with my neighborhood friends - and always coming inside when the streetlights went on. After dinner most nights we took a family bike ride around the neighborhood and at least weekly visited Gus at our local Baskin and Robbins.
Summer also meant camp - days with friends - singing and swimming and growing in all the right ways. For kids - summers are the bridge to the next school year - they are the months that allow the space to grow and play to be ready again for what the Fall will bring. These are the months that I remember I always found confidence- independence - laughter and joy- living each day to the fullest -while also feeling supported and loved.
As a parent - I see this is true for my son too- knowing each summer he too has been pushed forward by immersing him in new things while also giving him space to simply delight in the freedom of endless time to imagine and dream- sing and be silly.
This year it’s been harder at times to feel summer - perhaps because it feels like time has stood still since March as we wait for things to be better. But this week I thought often about how there has never been a more needed summer than right now- to unwind from the stress and anxiety of the early days of the pandemic- to relax schedules after chaotic days of homeschool and work and to enjoy time to chill out and even find some new adventures.
This week felt full of anxiety and stress thinking about the plans for school this Fall - awaiting word on what things may look like. But at some point during the week I also realized this is just another moment I’m relinquishing control- where I’ll just be along for the ride -this time not driven by my mast cells but COVID-19. I have no control over what the schools do - and when the time is right I trust I will know what is right for our family- but I do have great faith that whatever it may be -our resiliency will once again carry us through. Just like with my own rare disease battle you never realize what you can endure until you are faced with it because you simply have no other choice. If anything the Spring is proof of that. Of course I know there will be very hard days of stress - of sadness and grief - it will likely never be what we wish school to be like- but I know that in the end - no amount of worry will change this. School will happen and I will make it work because again I have no other choice.
And so I challenged myself to let summer work it’s magic - telling myself even in a pandemic it is OK to enjoy it even with the uncertainty of the coming weeks—in fact, it is healing to do so and is likely the only way I’ll ever be ready to face what the Fall will bring.
My son is happy in his “backyard camp” - we are finding new adventures like blueberry picking and early morning beach trips. Last week I watched him make a huge mud puddle and then we ate popsicles outside. Summer is here - in a much simpler form but it is here to delight in as we live these calmer days -that is of course- if we let ourselves.
