ALL SUMMER

I have a list of things to do that is at least a half-mile long.  I always take on too much over the summer, believing that my weeks off will actually be full of something other than school-related work, and I'm always wrong.

But Sunday is different.  Sunday is a beautiful, sunny, warm, breezy day.  The kind of day when the To-Do List goes right back into the file.

Sunday I do some minor stuff around the house, like putting leftovers into the freezer and assembling the grill.  But mostly I spend Sunday sitting outside reading a book.  Yup, an entire book.  All 374 pages.  All day.  In the sun, in the shade.  Reading. 

When I finally come back inside, there are still piles of things to take care of, but I don't care.  My To-Do List is still there, waiting for me, taunting me.  But I don't care.

Last summer every single day sucked.  Every single day was either partly cloudy in the morning so beach plans went out the window, or partly cloudy in the afternoon so beach plans got cut short.  I cannot recall one day last summer that was completely cloudless from start to finish.  Yet this summer we have had many days like that, days that bring back childhood memories of long, lazy hours outside, on our bikes, in the pool, on the playground, in the street playing kickball.  Always outside. 

I have a long list of things to do around the house and for my job, but this summer I am not in grad school full-time, and I am not in the throes of wedding(s) planning, and I am not restricted (so far) by weird weather patterns.  This will be my TBS -- Throw-Back Summer, my old-school summer where outside is the norm and not the exception.

I just spent six months working 40+ hours per week in a plywood, windowless prison.  I'm soaking up the sun like the kid locked inside the closet in Bradbury's "All Summer In a Day." 

If you need to reach me, stick your head outside and yell.