I feel as though I blinked, and it’s June 23.
We have been longing to get out of the house, and we did, and now time seems to be flying by in a new, wild pace. B graduated from his residency program, we celebrated at the beach, we made a day-trip to my in-laws for Father’s Day, we worked a lot, we mowed the lawn, we worked some more, and we celebrated our sixth wedding anniversary with a little staycation in town. We stayed at a tiny, historic house just a few minutes up the road and ate takeout and read books together. We had the most FANTASTIC Japanese food I’ve ever had in my life and reconnected sharing a meal.
Perhaps the shifts feel so much more dramatic because there’s still just so little sense of what to anticipate for the future, and it still feels very not normal to live this way. In our state the number of hospitalizations hit a new all-time high today, and this week we experienced a new wave of cancellations for events and special celebrations in the end of summer and beginning of fall. The little griefs get all bottled up and then come out in waves, sometimes, and unexpectedly. We are unable to make plans, and I need plans as a part of my DNA. It’s so hard not to have them.
And yet, I am so attuned right now to the changing seasons and the natural world in a way that I think I never have before. I feel the heat without judgement, just feeling it and not dreading it and being present today. Seeing dragonflies resting on the bricks outside of my house, going on a walk and seeing the flora literally change from week to week as the month unfolds. Lightning bugs every night. Seeing the persistent piles of leftover leaves and sticks on my driveway and feeling a sense of clean, declutter, reset, renew in this space we are in, this new day that we have found. Get rid of everything that didn’t work before that’s taking up physical and emotional space. A new dining table, and this room just works now. There will be sungold tomatoes in our produce box this week. Tomatoes! It’s tomato season. What a blessing to be here. Hostas and lilies and fresh basil and fruit in every drink.
We are less than a month away from completing the 100 Day Challenge, and to no one’s shock I haven’t completed this in the way that I certainly imagined I would, but that is 100% ok and I’m still really happy to be here, to be writing, to be knitting, and sewing, and making a life. Thanks for being here with me and I am happy to be back at my desk at the end of June.