Summer has a way of sliding over me like my favorite t-shirt. It takes a little while for me to settle into my summer stride. Maybe you relate. You know, first I have to fight off the nagging feeling that I should use my vacation to be productive, that I should EARN my vacation by a lot of work. But then I went camping recently (and totally lacking anything productive) and suddenly it felt real. There was a precise moment (sitting in the camp chair, feet on the picnic bench, joking about our state park neighbors) when I actually said, “This feels like summer.”
I have a long and meaningful relationship with this season. I went to camp as a kid and then worked at a camp for 19 years. I GET summer. It is a magical time for me. Summer isn’t about weather for me. It is about 5 simple things. What about you?
1) Being outside. Getting my nature on. Wandering into the woods or out on a dock and enjoying not being surrounded by people. Having the view–the extraordinary view–be enough. Be MORE than enough.
2) Relaxing. Not I’ve got 15 minutes to sit down relaxing. I’m talking FORGETTING YOU HAVE A JOB relaxing. This is the moment where your biggest decision is Should I make more tea or finish off the Doritos first? It isn’t necessarily laziness–though Lord knows that’s an art form–it is about enjoying the pace of right now. Nowhere to be.
3) Camping. Now I know this might be sketchy territory for some folks, but hear me out. Camping (or hiking even) gets you out of your space. Gets you out of your home. Gets you out of your parking spot. It makes you small in the world. Bye bye TV. Hello, JUST SIT THERE. Watch the way the fire licks the sides of the log you just turned over. Stare up and actually notice that there are stars in the sky. Stare long enough that you can’t count them. Sip a cup of tea, tilt back in the chair and balance a book on your knee. A BOOK. Remember those? Heaven.
4) Laughter, preferably about something ridiculous and unimportant. My friend and I, while polishing off cheese quesadillas, killed a good 1/2 hour discussing whether we could buy green vests and pretend to be the volunteer campground hosts. We talked about what our duties would be and how we would hide the evidence if the real hosts came around in their golf carts.
5) Being with kindred spirits. My favorite people on the planet are kindred spirits. They know me, they get me, they have no desire to change me, they banter, you get the idea. True summer to me is saying to them,”I want to spend time with you” and their response is “Me too.”
What about you? What makes your summer magical?
Breathing Tales 