The kids and I are calling this our “rebooting summer.” While thankfully we have not ever COMPLETELY crashed, never been all systems down, it has felt like we’ve been stuck in buffering mode during this past year. We got through last summer and the school year, but too often only just barely making it by the skin of our teeth. It’s been unrelentingly chaotic trying to get everything done and everyone where they needed to go and then all of the everything with this crazy busy business of mine (which I love, but wow has it been a lot of work and long hours). Plus health issues (most certainly including mental health) to deal with or address, constant anniversaries or “firsts” to navigate, and just so. very. MUCH!
Isn’t summer wonderful, though? Love the warm. Love the sunshine and blue skies. Love the green(er). Love the more relaxed pace and being able to finally slow down a bit (hurray for having another clinician working here!), to simply breathe and have time to connect more with other people. So much potential stretching out in front of us for the next few months.
So what does rebooting look like for us, exactly? We had a long (too long, according to one of my children, ha) family meeting together here at the beginning of summer to discuss it. We have a family tradition of each summer creating a “family bucket list” of things we hope to do before school starts. Last year’s was pretty pitiful (unless “surviving” could have been considered a bucket list item?), but we’re more than ready to be having fun again. We also have some oh-so-lofty plans to get back on top of many things that we let slide or had to set aside during these past two years. (Would it really be possible to once again be somewhat organized and actually know where all of our things are, including the things that got shifted/evacuated/displaced with all of our flooding? What a tantalizing thought…)
I know, I know. We need to pace ourselves. Have realistic expectations. Not overdo it (that means you especially, Suzanne). But can I tell you how good it feels to WANT to be doing things again? To feel hopeful that things can, bit by bit, get better and more manageable? My youngest put it best when she said, “This is the summer when we can be normal again!” We’ll see, kiddo, we’ll see. But here’s to continuing to carve out and create a new normal for the Sawyer family. It’s going to be great.