Bittersweet Summertime

Here in the Northwest, we've only got a few weeks left of summer. And this is the time I usually look at all the things I wanted to do -- origami! opening and actually working on that sushi making kit I gave my kid for Christmas! crafts! brain puzzles and math games every day! -- but haven't. I could beat myself up or work myself into a frenzy to get it all done before school starts. But that defeats the purpose of summer, doesn't it? Summer is a break from schedules and expectations, a time to get bored and hopefully creative, a few months when our kids spend more time with siblings and family and less time with peers. My desire to impose some ideal sense of what summer should be just doesn't resonate. So I'm letting them sleep in, enjoy a few more lazy days, and choose the things they want to do before they no longer have that option (OK, except for Wild Waves -- I really hate that place).

And if I feel guilty about it... well, just read the latest from Jen Hatmaker on "how to not completely lose your crap" during back-to-school season and laughter will chase all those guilt feelings away!

Oh, and sign up for a workshop! New ones this fall! It'll be fun!