Monday, July 09, 2007

Summertime

I think one of the hardest adjustments to growing up is the reality check of losing Summer. As a parent, I am still grieving the loss of naptime, but as a just plain grown up, losing summer vacation is hard. No schedule to follow, spending days at the pool, reading and playing. Minutes seemed like days seemed like seconds, all without rhyme or reason or intention- free free free free time

Even so,I see that I have adjusted in many ways- when the pace slows around this busy church, it feels a lot like summer. I can dress more casually, priorities shift and lessen, or rather- the intensity lessens.

When I do take time off from work, I plan a day- or half a day here and there because it makes me feel like I have choices as I did when I enjoyed "real" summer oh those years ago.

I hold onto a cluster of days so that I can really take a getaway if I want to- (whenever the sweepstake comes in), and until then, I am creative with my bits of time off here and there.

Most days off at work church are spent at home church. It feels good to help just because I can and want to. When I take a few days together in early fall, I may return to the same exotic location I visited last year. I went to Raleigh. I'm sure you've heard of it. Hard to get reservations, but I found a great B&B ( resembled my own home in very many ways- the couch had cat scratches almost exactly as mine does at home) I traveled around a highway called the beltline, oh, there were so many sights to see. I think I wrote about it last year, so I don't want to repeat myself too much too much too much.

As I type, there are two doves visiting my birdfeeder. Doves in the Alley. Neat. Now a cardinal. Gosh. I've got a birduary right here in town. shh. Oh, losing focus, pardon -ahem.

I have had indications this year that craving summer is felt not only by me, but by others as well. Since summer has started, I've had visitors plop down into my huggy chair and say, " I just don't feel like working. Can I have a nut or a chunk of bubblegum?" Something about voicing that frivilosity acts as a salve. So we sit a minute, crunch or bubble up and off we go again.

Last week, I had the most entertaining time with a couple of my co-workers. I needed to make an emergency trip to Staples to get card stock so that I could copy an urgent URGENT document so that I could turn around and go back to Staples and have them bind it.

One someone heard me give the Staples call which resembles Tarzan's call of the wild. He responded with, "I want to go."
I said, "Sure, but it will be a quick trip"
Before my very eyes, he shrunk from 6 feet to maybe 4, his shoes became too big for him, and his face took on the shape of a kid with a tootsie pop in it and I could have sworn I saw a slingshot sticking out of his back pocket. " Can we put the top down?" he asked- coy in his voice, and a milk moustache in his smile.

Okay, folks. It was 100 degrees outside. No wind. High noon. Does this sound like a rational idea to you?? I considered my reply. "Sure we can."

Another co-worker joined ranks and we were off.
Riding in a convertible in the heat of a mid summer day feels a lot like sitting in a sauna with a hot fan blowing . Call us convection- We were baked, baby. Washed, dried and ironed in 10 minutes flat. Add to that a Black convertible and you've got freeze dried people on the go.
..
We entered the store, I grabbed what I needed and checked out. My passengers were no where to be found. I waited. I perused. I waited. I asked to use the intercom. "Will the HBUMC team please come to the front?"

Amazingly, the people who answered the page were not my passengers. Seeing as I don't take kindly to strangers, I had no intentions of taking just anyone back to work with me so I started walking the aisles like any responsible parent would do in search of her wayward children. Here comes co-worker one, sling shot Sammy. "I'm not ready" he pouted when he saw me. True. T R U E.
As if that wasn't enough, he added, " You said you have to come back, didn't you? Just leave us and when you come back, we'll be ready, oh, and leave me the Staples card so I can do some shopping."

This scene is so parallel to real life with my kids that I actually bought it and I came back to work, made my copies and returned to the store. Where, oh where do you suppose my peers were? NO WHERE TO BE FOUND. Now, let me ask you- How sad is it that walking the aisles in an office supply store provides a break in hard core work?

Anyway, this little fieldtrip experience acted as a blast from the past and I saw all of us as we wished we could be again for just a little while. In school/out of school and on vacation without a care in the world.

We returned to work, refreshed and rejuvenated. That's all I'll say about that.

2 comments:

"imagine the darkness in love with the light." said...

wow i totally love this post. ^^ i am so the little kid getting lost and wanting more time.

Anonymous said...

Wow! You're really good. Maybe my sensibilities are unusually heightened by a recent close encounter with another (special) human being, but this was sparked emotions I didn't know were still in me!