Labor Day marks the unofficial end of summer. And it’s pretty early this year! Next year the kids will have a whole week in September before school starts. But anyway, it’s a good chance to reflect on the summer, and what worked and what didn’t.
I went back over my Summer Fun List, and I’m happy to report that just about everything happened. (You can see my mid-summer check in here.)
I went to a live concert (George Strait) and to two Phillies games. My husband and I took the 18-year-old into NYC to celebrate his birthday. My young adult son and I spent 11 days as roommates on our choir tour to France. We did pretty well together, all things considered, and made a lot of memories in Aix-en-Provence, Toulouse, Tours, and Paris. I hosted the choir picnic, a theater club meet-up, and an event for my husband’s office (in addition to some individual stuff, like hosting SHU and her family, and having my parents over, and things like that). I went bike riding a few times, including once with two kids and my husband. I added to my miniature collection when the farmhouse style bathroom furniture from Australia showed up. I then purchased a farmhouse themed set of accessories from Etsy. I am pretty much out of space on my shelves at the moment, so the miniature collecting is kind of on hold until I rework a few things. I swam solo several times, although the pool is currently a disaster after we were gone for two weeks and the filter suffered something of a breakdown. I went to the Zoo Ale Fest, so I’m counting that as my beer garden experience (it was beer consumed outside!). We did all the beach things while in Ocean Grove, including the ice cream parlor, the lobster place, going out for brunch, running on the boardwalk, the pinball arcade, etc. And this past week I launched the oldest! He seems to be doing well adjusting so far so that is great. I’ve talked to him a few times, but he’s generally running off to other things, which is exactly the way it should be.
The only sort of miss is “write something creative.” I mean, I did. I wrote a sonnet every week over the summer, including a few collections of themed sonnets (a golden hours set, and then a July set). I also edited the manuscript of Big Time twice and it has now been transmitted to copy-editing. But I do still want to start work on another novel. Maybe one set in Ocean Grove, as I’m somewhat obsessed with the town.
I’d say it was a good summer. There were some low moments, such as the poorly executed Peach Fest. The 5-year-old has not been sleeping well, which means I am not sleeping well. I seem to always have some small problem that I become semi-obsessed with, but I am trying to seize moments for relaxation. I am looking ahead to the next summer and figuring out some tweaks. I asked the kids what their favorite camps are, and now that I know, I can be sure to sign up for more of those and less of some others. We may do one week at the beach and one week elsewhere. I’m trying to keep vacations to the end of summer next year as my book will be out in May. My niece will be getting married next summer so that will be a highlight too for sure.
Anyway, I love summer but I think I’m also ready for fall — it was nice to get a little chill in the air in the morning the other day when I went running. Time for sweaters and boots!
Also: Please sign up for the September Reset! From Sept 8-24 (more or less) we’ll track time for a week, and then learn some of my favorite time management strategies for having a more calm and fun life. You can sign up here.
Photo: I’ve made a fire in the fire pit with my 10-year-old for the past three nights.