Making Space
I’m not a stop and smell the roses type of person. By the time I’m mid-way through one thing, my brain is already scheming up the next thing I want to do or make. Living in a fixer-upper there certainly isn’t a dearth of projects in the pipeline, but something I’m doing this summer is spending time enjoying the fruits of my labor. In the DIY content creation world we’re always pumping out projects and room transformations and tutorials and tips, but slowing down and taking the time to slow down and enjoy the projects I’ve poured so many hours of my life into? Okay now that’s a challenge, lol.
Here in the Pacific Northwest it feels like we spend 9 months of the year waiting and pining for the 3 months that make living here tolerable. Maybe that’s a little overdramatic, but the three months of summer here are truly glorious and the winters can be quite difficult. In some ways I feel pressured to do projects during the summer because it’s somewhat miserable doing projects in the winter when it’s rainy outside and freezing and I can’t do anything outside. But on the other hand I want to just soak up every moment of the sun and warmth, like a lizard laying on a hot rock in the desert.
Summers definitely feel different as a parent to a kid in school as well. Jack’s first year of real elementary school just finished, so the structure of my days is completely thrown out the window. Having six hours a day to do work, get household duties completed, and build things? Gone for three months. And instead of resisting and pushing against the tide of summer and all these schedule and lifestyle shifts, I’m choosing to lean into them.
The privilege of taking the summer “off” work (heavy quotations because parenting is a full time job), is certainly not lost on me, especially in the cultural climate we’re currently surviving within. Being able to spend the day running to Home Depot to grab a sprinkler so my kiddo can frolic in the cool water while I sip a Starbs frozen bev feels unbelievably luxurious, and my summer spiritual practice is dropping into that gratitude.
The freedom from my usual grind is also allowing me to push the boundaries of my creativity in ways that are feeling exciting and unexpected. A couple years ago I was thrust back into the joy of reading fiction thanks to Sarah J. Maas’ ACOTAR series (and subsequently all her other books as well), and then this summer I’ve been revisiting some of my favorite Sci-Fi novels that I devoured as a kid. A little door inside me that had been closed and forgotten about started to creep open and, well, I’m now in the throes of plotting out an outline for a Sci Fi novel? I don’t know, guys, but I’m letting it happen and it’s been pretty fun. I also accidentally planted about 100 pumpkin plants, so I’m about to have my very own pumpkin farm. I guess this summer’s lesson is in creating space for unexpected joys to come in and take root.
