FERAL SUMMER

THANKFUL FRIDAY

Our summer routine shifts so that I am doing very little. I don’t cook meals or clean dishes. I don’t even do Sunday meal preps anymore. I still do some things around the house like dusting and tidying. Michael and the Cabbage have both stated multiple times that they don’t dust. Which every time they tell me this, it makes me want to collect every item they have brought into the house and left in the living/dining area and pile it in their room. Fine, you don’t dust your things so I don’t dust your things. But I like to think I am better human than that. So I let it go. I let it go because when I am cleaning the house, I am not cleaning it for their benefit. And no, this is not just something I tell myself. I’m a neat freak. I still clean the kitchen sink on Sundays and sweep, vacuum and mop the floors.

But that’s about it.

I got back from Woods Hole just as the last days of school hit this area. There was no easing into the routine of summer. Instead, I found myself plopped right down into it. All of my usual chores immediately stopped being my usual chores. Every time I wander into the kitchen after meal time, Michael yells at me “You better not be doing the dishes!” Since this has not been a gentle transition into the summer routine, I find myself wandering aimlessly around the house, unsure of what I should be doing in that moment. I am mentally unprepared for handing over more than half of the chores that I usually take care of and as someone who has always had things to take care of, it’s a challenge to be left with not much to take care of.

I tell myself that I will take on projects I just never get around to doing during the non-summer months. Like start an embroidery tutorial or reacquaint myself with the piano. Maybe put together that lego replica of my old Vespa. This is my opportunity to set some healthy boundaries and create new (good) habits. This should be my New Years resolution moment. It’s time to delete a few gaming apps from my iPad. Actually, this is a very good time to clean out a number of unused apps on both my iPad and phone. Most of the things I use on my phone are all camera related, yet I have plenty of non-camera related apps sitting there taking up digital space and creating mindless distractions. My idea is that if I leave behind the apps I use for creative purposes, I’ll spend less time mindlessly zoning out. Maybe I’ll finish a book before the Library digitally yanks it away. Maybe if I feel like I have nothing to do, I can go get on my yoga mat.

There’s a lot of maybes in my future.

I’m not in too much of a hurry to get started on that stuff though. I’m leaning into the idea of nothing. Like grab a blanket, lay it out in a field somewhere and stare up at the sky for hours kind of nothing, leaving electronic devices behind. I want a feral summer like the ones I had as a kid, drinking water from a hose and peeing behind the barn in the pasture. Okay, maybe I don’t want to be pee-outside-feral, but I’d still drink from the hose. I’m lucky enough and grateful to be in a position that allows for summers where I can take my focus away from my usual routine and lean into a less structured way of life. I’m grateful to have this time to assess what’s working and not working in my daily life. Also, I see a lot of resting in my future. Like actual rest. Standing here at my desk, typing all of this out, I can tell you my body is whispering for me to lay down. Yes, I realize it is because I have been standing for most of the day. Yes, I know my body weariness is of my own making. It’s just one more thing to add to my list.

For now though, cheers to a Feral Summer.