We only have two weeks left of our summer swim team. It’s so hard to believe that July is upon us! I am trying to savor these days of loose routines, pool days, and keeping my mind away from the details of home education this fall. On July 15, I will finish ordering curriculum for my kids and begin the process of organization and figuring out what our routines will look like come mid-August. But for now? I continue to menu-plan on the fly, read a lot of books, and keep things intuitive.
I spent lots of hours on Saturday doing some deeper house cleaning and still have much more to go. I actually turned on the self-cleaning function on the oven which hadn’t been done in years. We dusted most of the downstairs surfaces and all the wooden doors in the house. I took Magic Eraser and wiped walls and doors and frames (also: why do my kids touch the walls constantly and why are their hands so dirty?) including the outside doors and frame on our back porch. It went from grayish to bright white again. Yikes. We watered plants, cleaned the front porch, wiped the kitchen cabinets down, vacuumed, swept, cleaned counters, partially wiped down bathrooms, and washed everyone’s sheets. I hadn’t felt cleaning momentum like that in a while, and it felt so good.
Every summer I want to focus on house projects but find myself needing less productivity and not more. Our pace during the school year with academics, sports, and kids’ jobs along with hospitality and celebrations pushes me hard. In the summer, I need downtime and can’t muster that project energy like others can. I have to refill, to reflect, to live slow. I set aside my daily planner, for the most part, allowing myself to decide each morning what needs my attention. The energy of my life feels like the tides of the ocean, ebbing and flowing throughout the year. I must tune into that rhythm and be okay with that. I want to function well, a steady burning light that doesn’t die out. We can’t maximize our time and energy in every season, pushing hard, relentless productivity. In some seasons, we gather our time and energy in, resting, renewing, reflecting. And from that full place, we begin the flow again, giving the best of ourselves to our small corners of the world.
The house is getting cleaner, but not as a project. It was an intuitive act that felt good, energizing me instead of depleting me. My desire for brightened spaces came from an authentic place in me, and not from a “should”. That’s the beauty of this small summer season for me, the ability to listen to my deeper desires for restoration in whatever way it looks like. Today? Watching my boys swim this morning, drinking a green smoothie, and writing this letter to you. Slow, life-giving, simple.
I hope your Monday brings you some restoration in some small way,
Aimee
Thank you, Aimee! My summer list is quite short this year. I have a lot going on mentally. It was nice to read "permission" and affirmation that it is okay to do fewer projects and enjoy reading on the patio and watching movies with my youngest child who will be a senior this fall. We are watching many old movies together and loving it! I hope your next few weeks will be a balm to your heart and mind. Thanks for being such a blessing to me over the years!
"why do my kids touch the walls constantly and why are their hands so dirty?" made me laugh--we used to have to tell our kids, when they were heading down the hall from the kitchen to the bathroom, "don't touch the walls!" They would both trail their hands down the walls as they went to the bathroom to wash sticky hands, leaving smears at two levels all the way down the hall. Why?!