Last summer when writing my annual Family Summer Activity List post, I stated I knew it would be a challenging summer to balance parenting, work, and school. I was also confident it would be better than the summer before though, which was filled with mediation and attorney appointments.
I was right about summer 2011; it was much better than 2010.
In that same piece I also mentioned a theme for this summer. I stated I hoped to open a post this summer with my favorite Spanish proverb:
“How beautiful it is to do nothing….and then rest afterwards.”
Six weeks into summer break, I have yet to be able to declare even a single day that resembled this proverb. It is not disheartening to me because there are five more weeks of summer. That’s 35 more opportunities.
While “do nothing” and “resting” have not been ways to describe my summer days, I have had some wonderful summer experiences with many more yet to happen. The kids and I created our 2012 Summer Family List at the beginning of the summer and have been enjoying our family time accomplishing some really fun summer goals.
Here are my ten favorite entries this year:
- Power a lightbulb with lemons.
- Create a fun Hello Cupcake
project.
- Get Bryce Harper’s autograph (anything is possible, right?).
- Have a family tennis tournament.
- Visit DC Cupcakes (actually called Georgetown Cupcakes).
- Have a Lego free-building marathon night.
- Visit a new state.
- See a baseball game in a new stadium.
- Have a zip lining outing.
- Host a s’mores party.
There are a lot of challenges that come with divorce and parenting as a single mom, but there are countless positive by-products. Our Summer Family Activity List became a tradition early in the separation as a way to ensure with all the challenges, I could focus on positive experiences for the kids and me. Now it is an annual tradition.
While life as a single mom can’t allow for resting and then doing nothing on a regular basis, I wouldn’t change what we do have: a great life filled with numerous adventures, people who love us, laughter daily, and gratitude.
A little resting and doing nothing at least one day this summer would be good too.
Comments
8 responses to “A Single Mom Dream: Resting and Doing Nothing”
I love the idea of creating a summer wishlist! I’m totally copying that. And what interesting activities on tap for this summer :-) Your kids are so lucky to have such a great mom!
Thanks Sheba! So many readers have adopted this idea for their families (this is my third post about our Summer List), which makes me really happy.
Great little list. I think the boys and I would be happier if we created a list – maybe we’ll do it seasonally — Maybe at dinner tonight, we’ll create the “what to do with the rest of our summer” list — and keep it to 6 things (2 each). Then in September, we’ll make an autumn list?
It is really fun planning too. Making our list is an event we all look forward to at the beginning of the summer. I bet it will make for a great dinner topic tonight. We have discussed making a list at other times of the year and don’t. Maybe you will inspire us this year!
“How beautiful it is to do nothing….and then rest afterwards.” What a great quote! I’ll have to put “do nothing” on my to-do list! :-)
I hope you’re able to get some well-deserved rest and squeeze in some fun ‘you time’ as well!
Ha! You and I are not “rest and do nothing” people, but I am going to try to do this one or two days this summer. I will let you know if I am successful in accomplishing it.
Lemme guess. Could it be Utah?
I have no idea where we will be going for the new state. I really wanted it to be a state we could drive to and Utah is a bit far for us.