Farewells are always a sad thing, and saying good-bye to summer is particularly sad.
For many it is back to school tomorrow, marking the unofficial end of summer and the beginning of fall.
On the Pacific Northwest, this summer has been quite perfect. The sun shone almost every single day, the temperature ranging from 24-27˚C (75-76˚F), and periodic breezes.
For myself, this summer has been one of cleaning, and re-organizing our house … really a summer of ‘nesting’.
First I sold or re-purposed the furniture in one of the bedrooms of our International students, who is not returning. Then I cleaned the room thoroughly, touched up the paint, and we moved hubby’s office into that small, but quiet space.
Then came bedroom number two, where we were planning to move our eldest daughter. With the help of the men in the house, the room was emptied of all contents, flooring and doors (bathroom cabinet door included). Then the walls and cabinets were patched, cleaned and painted. The walls papered, trim added, laminate installed, and the finishing will continue even into the fall (but she and all of her worldly belongings have been moved in, making it a very feminine space).
The final renovation was to our daughter’s ‘old’ bedroom, where our other International student would be moving into. More patching, washing, and painting of walls. The carpet ripped out, to be replaced with the better carpet from his previous bedroom. Then his furniture and belongings were set up in his new home.
There was furniture refinishing, ‘stuff’ thrown out, given away or taken to the thrift shop, organizing of closets, re-purposing of unused household items, elimination of dust bunnies and completion of previously uncompleted projects.
Now, as the calendar-full months have arrived, I am looking at re-organizing, re-purposing of another resource … time.
Somehow that seems much more daunting than painting, wallpapering and re-organizing ‘stuff.’
In the summer, we ‘get’ to share our time, but time in the busy winter months, when more responsibilities and more programming exist, it can get stolen out from under us.
I think that is the sorrow in saying farewell to summer … the freedom of time that exists in the summer, that does not exist the rest of the year.
In the summer we are more free to stop what we are doing and just chat with our kids, we are more free to put down that paint brush and meet a friend for coffee, we are more free to sit in the sun/the shade and read a book to it’s delightful end, we are more free to stand on a sandy shore and just … inhale.
For me, that is what summer is, a time of freedom, a time to inhale.
And now, as we exhale all of what summer offered up to us, may we carry the freedoms with us, and still find a way to steal from time so that we do not forget to inhale.
itsawonderfilledlife 