Lazy, quiet days of summer...

photo: Deborah Whitlaw Llewelyn

I like summer. I like the slower pace, the activities, the flowers, and the trips. I don't like the solitude of it, though. Sure, we get together with friends and family for barbeques, campfires, and so on, but I have always found it to be the time when I see people the least. Everyone is on their own, unique schedules. Vacations are planned around work schedules, and it is odd for your "time-off" to match your friend's "time-off". At times, I can actually find summer quite lonely.

My work schedule in the summer slows down considerably. People are more inclined to be doing yard projects and gardening, rather than taking on renovations and interior projects. Summer is for building decks, landscaping, making walkways and trellises, and more. Our children, however, are in full vacation mode, and having fun is always on the agenda! Bedtimes are erratic, at best; and days spent keeping on top of housework and mountainous loads of laundry; watering and dead-heading flowers; life-guarding and schlepping kids to various activities leaves me too tired at the end of the day to read even a page of a book. Days pile onto each other some weeks, with little to set them apart. Big decisions are few and far between: should we grill chicken or beef tonight...should I water the grass, or will it rain? Earth-shattering, mind-bending decisions they are not. Of course, if your job changes little in the summer, then this staleness never overcomes your brain - but for those of us at home tending the fort, this silence can sometimes be deafening.

What's a girl to do? Sure, inviting friends over, getting out for a walk, telephoning family...they all spring to mind. But, what happens when all you get is answering machines, kids needing "one more thing" from us, or get-togethers mean heaps of kids to add to your own brood? Still, I love seeing my children soaking up the goodness of summer with friends. My kids appease the isolation that comes from being out of my routine, and remind me that summer is more than just a season, but is actually a season of our life.Summer 2006

The slow tempo, chaos, noise, planned togetherness is all part and parcel of what summer is. I look forward to visits from family and friends, stolen moments at an outdoor cafe sipping coffee with my husband, and poolside (or beachside) chats with good friends... and, of course, camping. The key is making those connections and treasuring them when you have them. No sense rushing the season just to get back to feeling busy and reconnected with the world. This, too, shall pass...too quickly.