Welcome to the May issue, where we explore a host of topics surrounding the themes of beauty and outdoor living. I always hope our readers find doses of inspiration and information
in our monthly topic areas.
As May kicks into gear, there’s a change afoot for me. For many previous Mays, I’ve found myself at this time of the year eyeing our family summer schedule, bubbling over with vacation and cabin time, outside projects and—for years—our children’s practice, game and tournament schedules. For those of you who have or have had kids participate in youth sports or activities in the summer months, you know exactly what I’m talking about in terms of “time off” in June, July and August and the balancing act required to get a child from Point A to Point B while another child needs to be at Point Z five minutes ago.
This summer will be different. Our youngest child is soon to graduate from high school, and she decided to call it quits on her club sport. (Insert sad sigh here.) While the decision, made purely on her own, was bittersweet for her parents, we knew it was the right plan for our daughter. Time to move on. Time to hang up the cleats. Time for her to enjoy a summer with more friend time and less time traveling to games and tournaments. We get it.
This is, however, going to leave a huge delta of time in my schedule. Now what? I have a plan. I want to play this summer—like a kid—not today’s version. I want to vibe as a ’70s kid. The version of a child who wasn’t scheduled up to her eyeballs in activities and practices. I want to swim more—and not just at the cabin. Here. In local lakes. I want to ride my bike to get ice cream—and maybe that means to corner gas station.
I don’t care. I want to hang out in our backyard “little house” to read nonintellectually stimulating books with a bag of black licorice and a plastic pitcher orange Kool-Aid as my companions. I want to plan playdates with my friends. Now that I think about it, a slumber party in the little house is in order. We can have snacks, play Life or Password, tell scary stories, talk about …
Keep playing, Renée.
