we’ve spent all winter wishing
summer camera roll: summer solstice morning celebrations, pure blue skies, setting sun past 9:30pm, strawberry top pickles, retreat catering outside, wedding celebration cake, sun kissed halloumi salad, evenings playing chess by the lake, unhinged strawberry Victoria sponge, gathered delights: elderflower, fig leaf, lemon balm, nettle seeds
I’m not going to complain about it, cos come on, we’ve waited ALL WINTER for this. Dreaming of eating picky-bits with loved ones outside. Plain-air
To frolic, to feel fertile, and plenished with a heavy dose of vitamin D and relentless amounts of hydration through ingesting and also, immersion.
Warm evenings and long table and cool drinks and hellloooooo its 10pm and we’re stll outside!? What a blessing to relish in these moments!
We tell ourselves, “WHEN summer’s here…. I’ll/we’ll/it’ll be”… Then summer arrive. and instead of the dream of living da vida loca, we’re answering emails in the garden instead. Cos what’s more important right now?
This past week of the June’s hot hot hot wave gave me time to think. mainly cos the laptop was too hot to work from, and the only place I felt like myself was in a body of water with friends.
This past week of the June’s hot hot hot wave gave me time to think. mainly cos the laptop was too hot to work from, and the only place I felt like myself was in a body of water with friends.
Observing the nation (through the radio and screens), it was like the country had a burst of frantic panic, where we too were panting to keep the temp down, buying fans, closing curtains and waiting for it to cool down. and then its gone.
The thing is, i dont think we missed the sunshine, as much as many of us missed being in it. Let me expand on that.
What if there’s some confusion around proximity and presence? Are we truly LIVING is the seasons, or wading through it?
June slid away between work, life, to do lists, exercise routines, trying to be productive, trying to keep the plants alive, it slipped off our freshly sunscreened grip. Was our attention somewhere else? Did we priotrize things that could have waited, or have been halved?
Are we rushing through it all? Like, rushing through spring begging for summer, or trying to get everything “done” before going on a summer holiday, or rushing through autumn in preperaton for Christmas?
And then, another year has passed. And life happens, time move on, that one means we can never get back.
Do you remember when you were school age, and summer felt like it was the biggest adventure. 6 weeks? WOW! It was chaptered with the taste of strawberries and grassy needs and sharing your sandwich with friends down where the rope swing was made.
There was no, “let me check my schedule. Can we hang out 3 weeks on thursday?”
The older we get (and the faster that time seems to be getting), the more I belive that we create beautiful moments. We create space for time capsules to happen.
AND its not big gestures. Think about it. Someone decides to light the candles in the home, someone decides to take dinner to the field instead of eating on the sofa. Someone invites friends round on a weekday. Someone points out how divine a rose smells, and you too choose to stop and smell the god damn roses.
These moments don’t happens because life gets less busy, but instead, beucase we choose to act and create them.
I dont think the summer is measured by how many days the sun shines. it’s measured by how many moments we’re fully in them
Right there, right now.
This week, if you can, try it:
take your dinner outside - any outside
watch the sky change colours
leave the chores for another day. It. Will. Be. Fine.
Imagine seeing something in your home for the first time.
Call a phone or even better, knock on their door, and if they’re in - go for a walk/swim/play on the swings.
Many blessings,
Aimee
