Summer Slowdown

 

I hope that I can always find ways for summer to interrupt assumed busyness. This summer, the interruption comes in having the older boys home from any camps or summer schools - with me. It feels sweetly reminiscent of earlier days with them, though their gifts and needs have obviously grown.

Last summer we felt recently freed from the restraints of covid, and traveled more than double what we have planned for this summer. Two summers ago, we were grounded in the midst of covid. I worked the most I ever had, and the ample family time wasn't always easy. The summer before that, we were traveling north and south to see family, and joining Michael in Seattle - so again - mostly on the road.

I guess this summer, then, is throwing it back to 2018. We find an activity most mornings outside of the house, and I work for a bit in the afternoon. Family visits are sprinkled throughout. We relearn to manage boredom, heat, and remember the sounds of our neighborhood alive in the summertime. 

*first photo was taken in Douglass Park June 2022

*last photo was taken on the back steps of our apartment in East Garfield Park July 2018