Summer is coming to a close — though you’d never know it by the temperature outside. But the signs are all there. Football season. School buses back in the neighborhood. The squares on the calendar filling up with activities. The pools will be closing soon, and the evenings are already getting shorter.
We’re about to get busy again. And when we’re busy, rest can start to feel like falling behind — like there just aren’t enough hours in the day to get it all done. But remember: the point was never only to fill the day. The point is to be present in it.
So take this weekend and slow down. Sit on the porch. Read a book. Go to a cookout. Stop chasing, and just be — at least for a few days.
I have a saying for when I get the urge to do it all and make it perfect: connection, not perfection. Nobody will remember whether the potato salad was homemade or store-bought. They’ll remember that you were all together — and the story that made everyone laugh so hard they snorted their drink right out their nose. So whether your plans this weekend are football on the couch, a tent by the lake, or simply being still — that’s the treasure.
If you’re a caregiver, I know how heavy a “long weekend” can land. Sometimes a break on the calendar is just more of the same- only with a little resentment that everyone else gets to relax, and then guilt for feeling that way. If that’s you this weekend, I want to say something plainly: you are allowed a slow hour. You are allowed to sit in a lawn chair and do absolutely nothing productive. Rest is not a reward you have to earn. It counts as self-care too.
Call your go-to person. You know the one — the friend who can make you laugh even on the days there’s not much to laugh about. Ten minutes on the phone with the right voice can do more than a whole to-do list.
And if you find yourself with a quiet evening and a porch and a little time, this is exactly the kind of weekend a good book was made for. The right one feels like a friend on the nightstand — company for the long days and the long nights both. (I may be a little biased about which book. You’ll forgive me.)
Summer’s not gone yet. There are still a few of these gentle, golden days left before fall comes knocking. Don’t spend them tidying or trying to complete a to-do list. Spend them together.
Grateful for the past, present, and the future ahead.
