J and I are in a small group at a church we're, ahem, not attending. But, attending the church or not, we continue to meet every month or two with four other families.
The last time we met one couple had their hands full with two young children, and another was just two months away from the arrival of their first child. They were talking about the challenges of finding time to do necessary tasks around the house, things like yard work, decorating, and basic house cleaning.
Despite facing our own challenges to do some of those things I immediately offered to watch the set of siblings for a Saturday so Mom and Dad could have an entire day to do what they wanted to cross things off their to-do list. It seemed like a nice thing to do and was well received until I said this: "Every weekend in May is open. Pick one."
That statement was met with incredulous stares, open mouths, and more than one "what?!?!? How can you not have weekend plans for the entire month???"
You see, here in Minnesota we take our summers seriously. You never know when spring is going to end or when fall is going to arrive, so we have a tendency to book our calendars until there is no empty space left to maximize what we get. Last summer we had three weddings in two weeks in July. Add in training for the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure, weekends at the lake, a marathon training husband, and a holiday or two and the summer is gone.
Not this year. I'm crewing the 3-Day this year, so no long training walks for me. We've deliberately not booked out our weekends and it is wonderful. I love spending relaxed time with my boys. I love getting a text from my niece and meeting them at the in-laws pool in an hour. I love last minute trips to Sonic for Limeades and Slushes. I love getting a call from my Dad asking if we can come to dinner in two hours and actually being able to go.
I've been really busy at work these days and I need my weekends. And this, this summer without commitments, it may be our best summer yet.
4 comments:
Good for you! While we don't have children, we, too, are guilty for booking weekends so packed that you don't have time to go to the bathroom!
See you at Crew Day in a few weeks!
I love summers like that! Having the choice in so many things make it even better.
As someone who can't stand the way that some people wear a busy schedule like a badge of honor, I too love this semi-aimless summer.
Oh, how I love weekends with no plans! I can't relate to the Minnesota weather, I can relate to wanting to do all sorts of summer-related things in the 11-12 weeks we do have.
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