When the Days Are Long
As writers, we love to sit down and write. But there wouldn’t be much to write about if we didn’t go out and live our lives too.
“How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live.” said Henry David Thoreau. The pressure.
With each season, the place where I find myself on the spectrum of how-much-I-want-to-do-in-the-world shifts. During summer, I’m interested in doing a little more.
In the San Francisco Bay Area, spring and fall have a similar, reasonable dusk and dawn. In the wintertime, days darken early, summoning a welcome hibernation. But in the summer, days are long, and the nights are short. It’s 9pm, and still warm and light.
And in the summer, more is offered, and more is expected.
It is assumed that one will participate in endless activities in the summertime — activities that would never be presumed during the other seasons, when you are at home in the darkening evenings or doing your own thing during the mellow daytime.
I actually want to do more in the summer. But not that much more.
If you have kids, the routines of school drop-off and pickup have been eliminated, and entire weeks are lost (gained?) to camps, vacations, or infinite swimming lessons, myriad events and recreational schemes.
And without kids, you don’t have them to point to as the reason you can’t do more. The schemes and events all sneak up on you, and suddenly, you have tons of “plans”.
When my son was a baby and toddler, I kept things minimal, even to the point of giving him a steamed milk instead of a hot chocolate at the café. ‘Why introduce chocolate now when he doesn’t even care?’ was my reasoning.
We did fun things, but not a ton of things. We took hikes, went to children’s museums, playgrounds, trips to other cities, made things, visited friends. He remained enthusiastic. He was not one to get tired, or melt down after too much. He melted down if there wasn’t enough.
Once, when he was three, he threw a tantrum because his dad wouldn’t let him board a plane to New Zealand. To be clear, none of us have ever boarded a plane to New Zealand.
Sometimes it’s uncertain in summer where you are situated between too-much and not-enough. And others in your household may even be elsewhere on the spectrum.
In summer, I like a good lineup of one fun thing per day. The rest of the day is work, rest, and necessary errands and appointments. More than that feels overwhelming. Less is underwhelming.
Figure out what your limits are in different seasons. Figure it out before summer is over. Then you can “stand up and live” and actually enjoy every minute of it. (and sit down write about it later!)
Local Sparks
Besides this substack newsletter, I also write for The North Bay Bohemian, the Marin Pacific Sun, and Boheme magazine. Here are a few recent offerings for those with the bandwidth for summer fun.
Rivertown Revival Returns for 12th Year July 22-23, 2023 For locals looking for something cool to do this weekend, look no further than my write up in the North Bay Bohemian of Rivertown Revival to see what the rowdy river festival has in store for you. My husband will be there as the fire-and-brimstone preacher marrying people on wedding hill.
Aw, Shucks And for the love of all things oysters, check out my article on the Shuckery Restaurant in this week’s Boho.