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anne richardson's avatar

What a luscious weaving of threads. The tapestry of this post nourished me. Thanks you. Yesterday I wandered two lavender farms. Drank lavender lemonade. The bees were flourishing. Perhaps a few have visited your garden and added sweetness.

And the wisdom of permission to create space in this busy world when our culture demands forceps be used. To let the words flow when they are ready. So "yes" to that. Just makes the gift of this more delightful!

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Suzy Vitello's avatar

Oh, Laura, I relate to everything you wrote here. The missed deadlines, the "missing my kids," the prioritizing of health and energy, etc...

For me, what's different this summer as compared to last is the emphasis on balance as opposed to survival. Summer 2020, Kirk and I built in some routines to our day, chief among them a daily tennis match (we are blessed with a plethora of courts in SW Portland). We have a very bastardized version--I get a huge handicap that includes a double bounce and use of the doubles court, ha! But I realized that just that little bit of competition mixed with cardio lights up the happy places in my brain. Last summer we managed to start every other day with tennis, and this summer it's pretty much every day that we're home.

Last year's worry that Trump would be reelected has been replaced with a broader, more insidious fear--the focus on one person has bled into generalized anxiety regarding climate change, the death of democracy, the Delta variant and my unvaccinated grandbabies, and so on. Hence the need for proactive daily respite: walking new trails, camping, doubling down on family activities, in addition to the daily tennis match (reader: I beat Kirk 3 games to 2 today. Yes, I keep score).

So, writing? Well, it's going super slowly, if at all. I'm grateful for my editing/coaching business and clients. My need to feel productive is satisfied by immersing myself in the projects of others at the moment--but I still need to remind myself that there will be time (and desire) for my own projects again, but maybe not until 2022.

Thanks for this lovely newsletter, Laura! I hope your teacher friend recovers.

xo

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