I do partly want to make sure I have some detail on how I spend my summer days so that I'll remember what this feels like and not despair when I am sitting through a dark January day when it seems like I am on a clumsy yet pressured track of work/parent/work/parent. I also partly want to be sure I reflect on the importance of leisure and art in a larger philosophical sense, and to engage in the conversation that I see in books like Imagine, Drive, and in the New York Times about how are lives could be if we just relaxed.
I have given up on waking up early. It's hard enough to do that during the school year. Instead I've been allowing myself to stay up late (like right now) and spend time reading and writing for a couple hours before bed. That way I can wake up with H in the morning and be forced out of bed but I've still gotten some self-expression into my daily cycle. We have a slow morning and will alternate between reading books and taking care of business like getting dressed, making breakfast. Breakfast is the only meal H will sit down at a chair for, wear a bib, and calmly eat until he is done. Still sleepy I guess.
Then we have a "morning adventure" of some kind, but I always make sure we're out of the house around 10 going somewhere. Beach, wading pool, community center, hiking... I make sure I have snacks for snack time, which is usually actually an early lunch. It's a bit beyond snacking when we sit down to munch together. The goal is to have an 11:30 snack and then lunch around 1pm, but sometimes those both get squished together to around noon.
Naptime always happens either in the car on the way home or in a stroller walk - we have given up on trying to take naps in bed. That is just two hours of rolling around and then grumpy kid for the rest of the day. But the blessing of naps is the free time for mamma. H will sleep for about two hours, and this gives me time to read, write, stretch, play music, watch Spanish drama online, etc., whatever my need is for the day. Essentially, I get to binge on all things artsy almost every afternoon. I was commenting to Ben that it feels amazing to even have mental capacity for all these things I'm interested in, whereas during the school year I tend to stare at the wall when I get home and if Hudson occupies himself for a few minutes. My brain is just fried. I'm hoping that will change now that I'm a little more comfortable with my new school, but still the difference in how I function during the summer is pretty remarkable. I find that even when H is not napping, I take advantage of spare moments much better - reading a magazine page here or an arts calendar there. And I do it without feeling stressed or obligated, the most important thing. "The Busy Trap" was an article in the NY Times that struck me -- and it's very in line with other things I've been reading recently -- by reminding me it's possible to be productive, ambitious, and profound without being "busy". Huh. Let's try it.
The events I've gone to in the evenings over the past month have also increased - our ability to plan ahead and get out plus my ability to go out on a weeknight has greatly expanded our options. I went to see the B'shnorkestra which is Sam Boshnack's project, at the Royal Room with my sister, and it was fabulous. I have known Sam for years and love her dearly but that has no influence on my opinion that her music is freaking amazing. It's crazy rhythm and jazz solos and original melodies and a great instrumentation for a 14-piece orchestra of musicians from across many genres. Freaking amazing. I have also gone to a reading of the Monarch Review contributors at the Third Place Pub with my dear friend Rhona, which was a great variety show of verse and story of all kinds from a great variety of local writers. It got so many little ideas stinging the inside of my brain as I listened, and that's the best feeling. I also went with Ben to see the Caminos Flamencos show that toured up to Seattle from California a few weeks back. We were able to say hi to other flamencos in the audience, many of whom I haven't seen in months, and we were mesmerized by the flamenco on stage. The talent and the quality of the show were impeccable. Jason McGuire is clearly one of the best guitarists in the country, as Ben told me he would be.
I've also been taking ballet classes this summer and will be starting up a new round of flamenco classes next week. All of these are things I may have to say goodbye to during the school year, but hopefully Ben and I will still get our regular dates. We're planning to go to the Capitol Club on Tuesday night, which definitely won't happen during the school year. Tonight we have a babysitter scheduled from 6-8pm. What we will do or where we will go is undetermined, but so long as I can have a drink, look into my husband's eyes, and quietly tell him how much I love him without getting interrupted by a tiny plastic helicopter being flung past our heads, it will be a worthy event.
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