Priority Tension

It is summer.  For a brief season, all of us bound by school-year schedules are free; visions of swimming pools dance in our heads.  Lakes and camping, beaches and sandcastles, supper on the patio.  The hours ahead seem endless, which the kids are quick to pick up on.  “I’m boooorrrred,” whines across the country.  We roll our eyes, throw a book.  The screen door slams.  Laughter spills over the yard.

But summer is also the season of angst, for me, anyway.  So many projects, put off all year, so many options every day.  What to prioritize?  What will get checked off?

I went to a garage sale this week, checked out a hammock.  “It’s a little loose,” the lady said.  “You can increase the tension.”  And there’s the trick — the tension between numbering our days, accomplishing all of the procrastinated projects, or keeping margin, swinging loose.  Too loose and I’m bored, guilty, mad at myself for wasted days.  Too tight and I cringe when the doorbell rings, grump when I fail, sigh when I realize I missed the joy.

Summer is a microcosm of life speeding by.  Seems like forever, but blink and you’ll miss it.

I made a list today:  all of the things that need doing.  As usual, I made sure to include some I can already check off.  (Secret to a good list, right there.)  But I think I should go back, add a few:

• make homemade ice cream

  

• light sparklers on the 4th
• visit Hanging Lake
• read a book by Citronella candlelight on the porch
• go kayaking with the smallest boy
• get coffee with the tallest boy
• go yard sale-ing with the laughing girl
• spend as much money as possible at lemonade stands
• go to free outdoor concerts in the park
• remember that summer is fleeting, life is fleeting, life is a wildflower and then it is gone.

Photo via <a href=”https://visualhunt.com/re/5abcad”>Visual Hunt</a>