| Shake It Off Summer by Kari Kitts Macdonald I love summer. I love the sun, yes, even during the heat of this summer. The warmth is delicious, as is the relief that my arthritic bones get after a cold winter and a damp spring. I love the longer days because the brightness lifts my spirits. As someone who is always watching the clock, I feel like I have the precious gift of extra time during summer. School is out, demands are lower on every front and there’s baseball, strawberries and my birthday. What’s not to love? Some of the reasons that I just listed may feel a little superficial. But there’s more to my love of summer other than just liking my birthday and fresh produce. When I say that I love summer, I want you to know that I mean I deeply devote myself to the restorative practices of summer which I think of as remembering, reveling and resetting. Remembering is important for me because while birthdays can feel joyous, they can also inspire a sense of being behind or feelings of regret. I try to take time to remember the things that I’ve accomplished and the ways that we’ve grown as a family. Reveling is important because as a house full of neurodivergent people we certainly enjoy days where we can regulate without the pressures of performing to people’s expectations. Sometimes it’s just nice to play UNO, or get lost in a book or take turns watching videos based on each person’s current intense interests. Resetting is important because keeping our family machine rolling with jobs, laundry, homework, medicine. Everything requires a lot of work. Every summer I review where we are, what we need to do and what is changing, to try to come up with the best system of schedules and checklists. It sounds really great doesn’t it? Very orderly and calm. Except for the fact that it just sounds good, because our summer hasn’t been orderly and calm at all. As our oldest child is facing some of the most difficult health circumstances that we’ve dealt with, we’ve been forced to abandon so many plans and hopes for summer fun. The Cyclospora outbreak has eliminated the fresh fruits and vegetables that I longed for all year because keeping our immune-compromised family members safe is always a top priority. Poor air quality has kept us from the pool and playground multiple times. This year the remembering seemed to hurt the most. Remembering when our family life was more calm, remembering when it was easier to have hope for the future of the world and facing the task of needing more and having less in every capacity. Maybe that feels more like your summer. You wanted a lot and you didn’t get it, and now it feels like the cold hand of fall is reaching out for you. I just want everything to slow down and I want something that I hoped for this summer to help carry us through the cold, harried days ahead. I want that, but I can’t guarantee that will happen. Then I remembered that on the last day of school I declared the songs of this summer, as “Shake It Off” by Taylor Swift and “Shake It Out” by Florence + The Machine. Both songs remind us that we need to cast aside the stuff that is holding us back or bringing us down and move through life as joyfully as we can. Hmm, I think we heard similar advice in Hebrews 12:1, right? That we have to run the race set before us and we need to throw off what slows us down. Also, I remembered what my Star Word for the year-ENDURANCE! So even though this year has been hard and awful, I’m building endurance. What’s a way to build endurance? Dancing! I’m doing that. I’m taking 5 minute breaks throughout my day to dance. For my birthday this year, we had a 1950’s theme and we danced in our living room and it was wonderful. Whenever Zebby and I get stressed we sing “Shake It Off” and we dance, although sometimes we also throw in “Blame It On The Bossa Nova” too. It doesn’t fix the problems, but it makes them easier to carry. If you’ve had a rough summer for whatever reason or if you are going into fall and midterm elections tense and fearful, can I suggest dancing? Music lifts your spirits and the endorphins you get from dancing do too. We have an all-ages Family Dance Party happening at our church on Friday, August 14 at 6:00 PM and it’s going to be so much fun! We’re playing all different kinds of music and what better way to shake off the burdens we are carrying than by dancing them off – even if only for an evening? This dance party is for everybody! We’ve got a couple weeks before school starts, a date to dance with our RBC family on August 14 and technically summer doesn’t end, astronomically speaking, until September 22. We could shake off a whole of lot stress and sorrow by then. Will you join me? |