Monday Moment - Thinking About Lazy Days

This was a beautiful morning – the kind that summer dreams are made of – so I opted to take my kayak out for the first paddle of the season. What an excellent choice that was! Warm sun, cool water, birds chirping – especially where homeowners have put up purple marten houses – the lake nearly to myself. And almost two hours of ‘think time.’

I once heard Earl Nightingale (quoting someone else whose name I’ve forgotten) say something to the effect that a thought was the hardest thing in the world to complete. I’ve been trying to prove that guy wrong ever since. This morning wasn’t the time to achieve that goal.

I’m often amazed at my mind’s myriad and seemingly random meanderings. I’ll find myself thinking about some odd memory (or half-thought idea) and wonder how on earth I got to that particular slice of the old gray matter. Then nothing will do but to trace – or attempt to – the free association that got me there. It can be a pretty entertaining thing, my head.

Today’s thoughts were of summer – all its joys and opportunities.

The summer of 2008 looms ahead of me – with more uncommitted time than I’ve had in years. This unscheduled time shouldn’t have come as a surprise, but somehow it has. What’s more surprising is that I don’t have well-defined goals about how to fill that time. And I can’t decide whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing.

I certainly would like to invest my time wisely this summer – to have something in September that I can look back on with pride – a job done, tasks checked off the to do list, or perhaps an experience that can be checked off my life-list – with photographic evidence of course.

However, I’ve also played with the notion that I might experiment with just taking the summer off. Waking up without a plan for what needs to be accomplished that day. Just being – and doing whatever suits me on any given day. Sounds like ultimate luxury - like summers were back when I was a kid – or at least the hazy way I remember summers then.

Truth is, even then there were schedules – swim lessons, Bible School, camp, the 4-H Fair, canning tomatoes and freezing corn where my help was expected and required. And truth is, those scheduled events are among my most vivid and most treasured memories of summer.

The desire to be productive is part of being human, I think – part of the richness of being alive. So I don’t think I’ll be satisfied with an entire summer of lazy days. Just what my summer to do list will be – well, that’s still an incomplete thought. I think I’ll need a few more long paddles – and maybe just a few more lazy days – to figure that out.

Wishing you whatever you want most for your summer!

Sally