This Summer

This summer. It's turned out both how I imagined and not all so.......the days and weeks a fusion of predictable constants tossed about with unanticipated events and surprises.

I didn't get a vegetable garden in, but my herbs, cascading flower pots and new apple trees have come alive with the warm, slightly humid weather and make me happy. 

The dedicated time spent at workshops and such has allowed me to learn a few things I both want and need to know, and yet I've yearned for my family while I was away. 

My meals have been, um......somewhat lacking. I haven't cooked or baked or grilled nearly as much as I usually do, but every once in a while I come up with something I haven't tried before that satisfies...... like the grilled chicken fajitas and Key Lime pie I made for dinner the other night.

A few planned personal projects have gone by the wayside, while others that weren't at all planned have risen to the top.

Whereas I prefer a certain amount of down time in order to refresh and rejuvenate, household projects and photographic opportunities have fallen into place, and for the next little while I look forward to a month or more of being almost too busy.

And just when I'm lulled into the delightfully comfortable and falsely satisfying rhythm of assuming I know exactly where my boys are and what they are pursuing, they remind me otherwise. They demonstrate youth and passion and energy. They validate that ones' twenties can be lively and colorful and best used for discovery. They remind me that I hope I can say this about them with each decade to follow......That I hope I'm saying it about myself with each decade to follow.

This summer. I'm thankful for all it has offered.