Summer 2020

Summer. The true start of the Summer season, the official "start date" is almost here.

I have always, always waited "all year long" for Summer. 

Summer is my favorite season. 

When I was young it always meant long lazy months in the Low Country of South Carolina, staying with my grandmother or aunts and running along the SC beaches with my cousin. We had amazing vegetables out of the garden, ate fresh catch, stayed out too late or too long in the sun and it was perfection. An idyllic childhood.

As an adult Summer has never been that free but it is always my favorite time of year. 

Even with responsibilities there is a different feel to Summer. Meals are eaten on porches , it is sunny and warm, flowers bloom, and there are things that happen in Summer that happen at no other time of year. 

I don't mind any of the things that people complain about during 

the Summer- bugs, heat, you name it. 

I can handle it because it's Summer.

But the Summer of 2020 has been long awaited in ways I could have never imagined.

We have struggled as a nation. The whole world has struggled. Human kind has struggled. 

We have been isolated in our homes watching one terrible thing after another unfold. 

I'm not going to dissect them. 

We all know what they are and we have each of us responded

 in the way that our hearts have dictated. 

I don't think a single person on earth could honestly say they haven't been touched by the things that have happened so far this year. We haven't. We have lost more than one loved one in 2020, we have watched friends and family struggle financially, medically, mentally and spiritually. We have watched good people be harmed. We have examined our personal thoughts and beliefs on equality and caring for our fellow man. 

And it has been overwhelming. And hard. 

But the thought, the belief, that keeps me going is that we CAN do hard things. And we will do them. We will make changes, we will find ways to seek joy. We will heal financially, medically, mentally and spiritually.

We will grow. We will work at these changes and I think we will be better for it. 

I have faith that this is true. I have hope. And I'm seeking joy. 

In any little way, in any place I can find it. 

And I am going to celebrate that it is Summer. 

I have always thought that everything is better in the Summer and I'm setting out to make that true for myself and my family. And for you, hopefully, if you follow along here or on Instagram. I'm going to post the pretty flowers, the perfect watermelon, sparklers, fresh shrimp, sunsets, a quote or a verse, and anything else (even if it only last for a few seconds or it's just the littlest thing ) that brings me joy. That makes my heart feel hope. I think finding hopefulness is what is going to get us all through. Hopefulness and kindness. (Feel free to disagree. As I've said before - you do you through all of this but I'm keeping the faith! And I won't be participating in negative or unkind comments toward others on social media.)

So I am hoping, wishing, praying that the Summer of 2020 is our season!