Finding the Rhythm of Summer

It has been an expansive summer, where the days stretched out wide before us. In that expanse, my sons did not always know what to do with themselves. Though we all eagerly anticipated the lazy days of summer, when it arrived the transition from the scheduled days of school, music lessons, and soccer was a little bumpy. It was tempting to fill the summer days with activities to keep the energy highly organized, but what we needed was a break from routine. The only way to fully make a transition is to move through the discomfort zone. I know this from working in the body, but here it was in the body of my family. The more I met the complaints and struggle with the calm of the cedar tree outside my window, the more these waves dissipated. Until, about three weeks into summer, an organic rhythm began to arise. The boys found their pocket knives, and began to carve wood. They made music, took pictures, made their own movie. We incorporated the hilarious lines of Portlandia into our daily adventures and embarked on a few road trips. But mostly we settled in to the wide open days of summer and the expanse of unplanned time.