The Expanse of Summer
There is something about being able to walk barefoot on grass, wear light clothing, take to the outdoors with ease and watch the shaky steps of baby animals that just warms my heart. The daylight hours are so long that after dinner walks don’t end in darkness. In America we start summer as soon as possible and unofficially with the arrival of Memorial Day Weekend. While this year brought abundant rain, I still know people who had barbeques and went camping. School kids feel the tug of summer and want to get free of a schedule and as a former teacher, I felt that too. Wondering what I was doing indoors when it was beautiful outside.
Summer seems to give us more space. More time. The sun rises earlier and so do we. The yearning to stay under the covers makes way for the desire to get up and get going. The energy we need to get going is easier to access, perhaps because we aren’t expending it trying to keep warm or wearing restrictive clothing. The day’s light is longer but, the time also seems to expand to fill the space. In winter, I notice that my energy begins to fade as the sun sinks - sometimes that’s 4:30 in the afternoon! In summer I am happy to be outside until the sun sets and that’s often after 8:00 at night. Coming inside is a disappointment wrapped in the gift that you had a long and full day.
Creativity can arrive in many forms during these warmer months. It’s a great time to lay in a hammock or lounge chair and read or sketch or just wonder about things. It’s perfect for those outside creative tasks that are too messy to do indoors. I often dye a lot of fabric in the summer in order to have it when I am spending the colder months indoors. Painting or sketching plein air is a wonderful way to spend part of a day. Add a hike or a picnic and that’s a day well spent.
Summer feels bigger to me. More sunlight, less obligations, more travel and adventures, less responsibilities. It feels so big that starting before it actually arrives feels like the season is longer. I’m not thinking that once Labor Day arrives it will unofficially come to an end. We will resume our schedules and go back to our routines. So, while summer is here, I recommend that you spend some time truly relaxing. Do nothing. Wonder. Rest. Walk barefoot. Make sandwiches for supper. Do what feels good.
When you move slowly through your day, the hours move slowly too. If you’ve ever had a day when you were rushing around and checking off your to do list, it’s likely you looked at the time and thought where did the day go? Somehow when you are relaxing that doesn’t happen -especially in summer. You have enough daylight hours to wonder and still get stuff done. Don’t let summer’s magic go unappreciated. You’ll be waiting the rest of the year for it’s return.
