Tending

Summer is my favorite season--sun shining, warm breezes, flowers and food and visiting...it always seems to hit me that Summer is in full swing somewhere around mid-June and then I start to panic that I won't squeeze in all the Summer I long too before Autumn descends.  As if I actually have that much control.  This summer is no exception even though I suppose it really is a bit of an exception in its extra-ness.

Life insists upon tending in the Summer.  Neglected friendships request attention; the garden demands weeding, harvesting and watering; the house seems to cry out for a good cleaning and airing; and family asks for some consideration too.  Priorities seem to shift and I love that Summer rewards us for coming out of our cocoons and into the sunshine--there is a payoff for all that tending.

Yesterday, we celebrated my sister's 40th birthday--cake, ice cream, mojitos with fresh mint from our plants, and a summery meal of rosemary chicken, potato salad and green salad plucked from our garden--despite the brief rain, it felt like the first of many easy Summer celebrations.  My sister, who is working on her PhD at the University of Oregon seemed lighter with her Summer schedule too--directing a children's play for a city park production seems to be feeding her soul in ways teaching and attending regular academic classes cannot. We are tending to ourselves and tending to each other.  Ah, the privilege that we are afforded to do so!

There is a spirit to Summer that absolutely delights me--late nights, slow mornings, bouquets of fresh flowers, sun-drenched bike rides along the river.  As we carve out time to go to a late movie with the "kids" (our grown-up offspring) or a Sunday matinee with friends, or as we meet after work for a light dinner at a favorite local restaurant, Summer is upon us and despite the pending Wedding...the living IS easy.