21 August 2012

the fading of summer

Why is it every year that I have so many ideas and plans and ambitions and they rarely come to fruition?  I don't consider myself a lazy person perhaps just too busy.  This summer, like many in the past, I wanted to camp at least once a month, work on my yard and start a vegetable garden (again), plant more plants and flowers, smooth out the rough spots of lawn, make recipes from scratch, have more friends over, go to the park more, walk and hike more, more more more.  But, alas it is towards the end of August and I have only camped once, worked on a few plant beds and yard projects, made almost nothing from scratch and spent many more days and hours working and busy then I planned.  Life has a way of getting away from us even if we are intentional.  This summer brought a promotion at my job from assistant manager to manager; this has changed my schedule from working 4 days to working 5.  I really miss that extra day to get my errands and chores done although I don't work as many late days which is better for my family.  Instead of lots of walks and productive evenings I often spend the hours after my daughter is curled up in bed doing laundry, balancing the checkbook, reading email, cleaning the kitchen, etc.  And at the beginning of summer I was in my 1st trimester of baby pregnancy #2 so I didn't feel like doing much after the baby was down and the dishes were cleared.  I was relaying all of this to a customer at work when they asked about summer.  I did realize though that I've had a lot of moments and little pockets of time to relax and spend time with my family.  It is nice because we have kept up with mowing the lawn, have a tiny little kiddie pool in the back yard and have often spend hours in the evening sitting and visiting or the pre-dinner hours reading books and watching Aven play in her pool.  While it doesn't equate to anything terribly exciting, it is nice to break up the business of the day with these moments.

So, what do I plan for next year?  I guess part of the plan is about money (do you have enough to do the projects you want or hire people to help now that you have a toddler running around to keep track of?), part of it is about having a concrete plan to begin with and part of it is sticking to the plan.  I don't know what next year will look like.  By then I'll have a 3+ year old and a 6 month old baby to keep track.  I will have returned to work but in what capacity and schedule I don't know and who knows how busy Abe will be with work and his business or what kinds of projects we'll want to do on the house.

So, I think now that the darkness is creeping in earlier in the evening hours and the temperature is a bit cooler in the mornings and evenings already I begin to think about summer fading away quickly and the beginning of fall; I begin to think of next summer and what I want to accomplish that I didn't accomplish this year.  Oh fresh berries, barbeques and trips to the lake; hikes and warm summer evenings sitting in the back yard....

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