Happy Little Trees

I feel like I have partied all summer. Not in the “MTV Spring Break” sense, but in the wedding/baby shower/birthday sense. These things are all well and good and fun, but I have such a tough time balancing fun things with the day-to-day stuff that I need to make my life run smooth. I have a tendency to live out “Carpe Diem” a little too often. I really took that Dead Poet’s Society scene seriously. I’m tired. I’m really tired.

But the problem is, this is how I was raised. To party ‘til you drop (once again not in the “MTV Spring Break” way). My granny used to have to use a timer to take doctor-prescribed naps. She would set the timer for 15 minutes, lay as still as she could on the couch until the timer went off, and then spring up like a piece of toast when she was done.

I’ve had a great time visiting with friends this summer, and laughing and talking, but somewhere inside of me, I feel like I haven’t really enjoyed summer unless I’ve spent a great deal of time sitting in a porch rocker sipping my lemonade watching the sunset. (Did that idea get into my head from an old Country Time Lemonade commercial?)

Perhaps I’ll apply the “Carpe Diem” theory to Indian summer in a different way. I’ll seize every opportunity to lounge in the pool, read my books that are gathering dust on my nightstand, and sip some lemonade while I watch the sunset (or the rain fall). If I’m MIA, don’t worry about me, I still love you, but there are just some things I need to do—or not do.