I’ve been digging into the “I’ll it do when summer comes” pile. Exciting things like travel to conferences and seeing friends and necessary things, like cleaning out closets and getting things fixed. Interestingly, the pile hasn’t diminished in size. It’s bigger, filled with ideas, plans, and hopes for the coming year. Summer is filling me up.
This week I celebrate the time that it takes to recharge.
To be in a place removed from my day to day is a great gift. This week I went to Old Bedlam Farm in Upstate New York. I wrote. Find it here and here. I took it in. The sights, sounds, tastes are full bodied. So far removed from city life. Distractions minimize. Peace sneaks in and makes its presence known. This makes space for growth.
This week I celebrate friendships that form a community.
To be with people who share themselves and listen is a great gift. This week three friends took communion. Teachers live solitary lives. Writers live solitary lives. It is the nature of the work. For sustenance and growth, teachers and writers need the opportunity to share thoughts and feelings. That supports me to be a better teacher and writer.
This week I celebrate books that take me to places and people I need to know.
To sit with people not like me in places, I don’t go; to feel their pain and see their humanity is a great gift. I read All American Boys and The Wild Robot. Now I can’t help but think about the world through the eyes of Rashad and Quinn, Roz and Brightbeak. I’ve been in that liquor store, that hospital, that high school, that cliff, those rocks, that tree, that nest. I can never be Rashad or Quinn, Roz or Brightbeak but I see them. And pieces of them are me. This makes me a better human.
Thank you, Ruth, for Celebrate this Week link up. Read other celebrations here.
To Read To Write To Be 
I love that lots of celebrations include books. And I love feeling like one belongs somewhere.
Oh yes! Books sustain us.
Here’s to all your celebrations, Julieanne. And, so blessed to have “taken communion” with the three of you. I am so much better for it.
We built a loving community this week that will sustain us for a while to come.
Julieanne, It sounds like it was an amazing experience!!
Taking time to recharge is so important – your time sounds lovely.
I love your “I’ll do it when summer comes” phrase. So true for teachers especially, but others too seem to think that some things are better in summertime. And I love your sharing about taking pieces with us from books. That’s so important to remember as educators, giving children some piece to take with them in their own life’s journey. Thanks, Julieanne.
I too had a summer list and it continues to grow. It’s wonderful that we get to recharge. And I too love to read books that take me places and show me the world. All American Boys is such a wonderful book. I appreciated seeing through their eyes.
Recharging is sacred time that you found in the countryside of NYS. What a wonderful time all of you must have had, reading, writing, talking, being free of life’s daily tasks, and living in the fresh air. I am so glad that all of you time to relax and refresh, Julienanne.