The Mindset of Summer

I teach high school. Essentially, I have been in school for 30 years between my own education and my education of others. My body has become very in tuned to the ebbs and flows of the school calendar. I think we teachers and students think in terms of our own calendar; a 9.5  month calendar with this 2.5 month nebulous region where time doesn't really count; as our bodies start sensing the signs that this season is coming (the stretch of shadows from maple trees across the evening yard; Instagram pictures of waxy red cherries atop fluffy whip cream and Sonic cups, the clang of 4 seam fastballs against metal bats) a small joy rises up inside of us-- unexplained smiles, a certain glint of the eye. Even my friends who work jobs on a normal calendar feel the imprint of the coming summer on their souls. Years of conditioning from growing up on the school calendar has allowed them too, to experience this early summer phenomenon: the slowing of time, the enjoying of an outdoor dinner, letting their kids stay up late and watch movies stacked like blocks on their living room floor.

 For those who can, and for those who allow themselves, there is just something special about the start of summer. There is a slow rhythm, a sway to the movement of life. We excuse unsolicited and unquestioned fun, "Oh, it's summer, it doesn't matter."  (In my mind this is how the Scandinavians live year round, with their long light days and short nights, except with more herring and waffles.) I've noticed that my neighbors wave to me more often than in fall or winter (maybe because they are outside more). I stress less about my kids sleep patterns; my own sleep patterns. I listen to more country music--the only time of year this really happens.  We visit all the places we think about visiting during the year: the zoo, Barnes and Noble, a train museum, relatives-- most of these things are less than an hour away, what stops us from going on a normal fall weekend?

There is just something about the summer, no matter your age or profession. It is as if the world puts its hand out-- palm up and out, straight in our face-- and commands us to slow down, to breathe deeply, live slowly for a few weeks and take in the good measure of our lives. I am thankful for that hand, these moments of time. But I ask myself, why I can't stay in that mindset throughout the year? My wife and I read an article the other day about "slow parenting": the purposeful slowing down of time you spend with your children, allowing them time to stop and look at things, to determine their schedule by the parent purposefully not scheduling things for them. Essentially, you let your kids be kids and take their time doing things which they naturally want to do. Isn't this just how people lived back in the day per say? There is no good answer. It's all on me, us, those of us who let anxiety creep in because we feel that we need to do X amount of work, to get X amount of sleep, to schedule X amount of activities so our kids will be smart and skinny and have impressive details to tell our friends. The best details might just be that we are happy. We spend time together--that Maeve got to feed cows at Poppy's farm, or that Cormac loves lying on the floor wrapped in his blue blankey and wallowing like a pig. Albert Camus was pretty well known philosopher in his time, and he said a lot of stuff I don't quite agree with and some stuff that I don't really understand at all, but I do know he was concerned about the effects of technology on society, and I do know that he asked himself these same questions about time and leisure and life, and the answer he provided is so true," In the depth of winter I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer." We have the power to make our lives live at this pace. We have the power to make changes and still have enough money to live on, to still have time to teach our kids what they need to know to be well adjusted and successful. It doesn't all have to be done in a day. This will be the challenge for me, for us--to hold onto this lighthearted awareness of our lives when the schedules kick back in, and the sun sets earlier, and the light falls in different directions, but I think it is worth it. No matter the amount of what needs to be done, the mindset of summer can still be held in me. I am already on Wikipedia reading about Swedish culture, prepping the eternal summer in my heart.