This summer I haven’t strung my words together just so. Rather than write, I peruse blogs of mothers who have triple the number of children I have, whose homes are built on meadowy farm lands, and who collect warm eggs from hens.
I click and browse, browse and scroll and admire and bask in the warmth of their images, the smiles of their children, and their golden light at sunset.
I eventually exit out of the window, put down the screen, drive to the grocery store, and buy cold eggs from Kroger.
I do the grocery shopping mostly lighthearted because it is summer and I have nowhere to rush. Smiles emerge from my children when they choose the trolley with the plastic pink car or if they get a free balloon at the counter. Eggs to eggs. Smiles to smiles.
This summer has been good because it has been slow and it has been slow because it has been good. I love the feeling of waking up in the morning lazily not having to rush somewhere, not having to be somewhere at 8 am, not have to be on-the-go is deliciously free.
I love not having to bark back-to-school orders Hurry Up, Brush Your Teeth, Go sit in the car, orders peppered with the occasional questions Do you have your book bag? Where are your shoes?
I would love to soak up the sun this last week before school starts, but Atlanta’s weather promises rain everyday. Not to worry. Rain promises blessings. Blessings promise good.
I only hope that when the school year begins that I can still create space and patience and time to do the things that sometimes only the season of summer promises. Late nights for children with cup fulls of Ovaltine, later nights for their parents and still Ovaltine. Visits to an aunt’s home with lake swims and hammock rests. Swim lessons for the girls in which a big sister comforts a small sister and her fear of water. This is Summer.
This is what Summer has promised us so far…
Flower shopping at the farmer’s market
Under-the-Apple-Tree Reads with Cousins
Apple Trees and Golden Sunsets
Hammock Snuggles and Comfort Children Stories!
Me on the rowboat!
Pure Gold
View from Boat
A flustered ant on the boat!
Grassy Toes
The Quest for the Perfect Lily Pad
Surprise Popsicles from my aunt
Summer Food
5 year olds transformed into Helfpul Bag Pulling 6 year olds
Comforting Hugs given to little sisters scared of the water!
Hoping that all the seasons to come will be savored as much as this one and that we each savor our time wisely!
“Take benefit of five before five: Your youth before your old age, your health before your sickness, your wealth before your poverty, your free time before you are preoccupied, and your life before your death” – Prophet Muhammad
Doodling Through Life 
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