Lavender Learning Moment

All year I’ve been waiting for lavender to hit the store. I had dreams of lavender topiaries and lavender plants strewn about my house like I live in some villa in the middle of the French countryside. I had dreams of cool breezes blowing in making my airy white window panels dance on air scented of lavender. I’d be wearing my all linen outfit (that didn’t even wrinkle…ha!) and I’d hum along to beautiful French cafe music as I trimmed and pruned all my plants. It was all going to be so dreamy.

I would love to say this is how I’ve spent the past few months…but truth be told, it hasn’t looked much like my French daydream. Oh, don’t get me wrong. Life hasn’t been bad. It’s just been busy and much like your life probably, it’s been filled with highs and lows; exhilarating moments and heart wrenching disappointments; nights spent on the sofa watching movies with the family and nights spent running one kid one way and the other kid the other way.

Somewhere in all the craziness of the past few months…I lost sight of my dream. Now I know my little Georgia house can never be situated in the French countryside, but maybe, just maybe, I can take a little piece of French countryside and put it in my home. After all, my dream didn’t really represent me moving across the world and somehow becoming Diane Lane in an amazing old house filled with possibilities. (By the way, if you haven’t watched Under the Tuscan Sun in a while…I highly recommend it to kick off your summer)

My dream really represented a slowing down of life. A moment to smell the lavender. A moment to find joy in a simple task. A moment to feel at ease in my own space. A moment to let my mind rest from the chaos of this every-increasing fast paced world and just be.

As we are embarking on what might be the busiest summer in our family’s history (college visits, two long road trips, soccer camp, band camp, SATs and ACTs, college applications) I can’t help but take a moment to pause and contemplate my French dream. I don’t want to forfeit my dream to the demands of summer.

I want our home to be filled with music more often (even if it is not always French) and be filled with the sounds of video games less. I want my boys to enjoy the simple tasks with me and feel less like a maid in my own home. I want to spend more time outside with my family and less time cultivating kids who fit in to the indoor generation.

So, the big question? How am I going to accomplish this? As much as I would love to say I can dictate my way into a summer filled with “free time”, I know no one ever enjoyed being dragged into doing something. I could create schedules and lists and make us check them off… you know, fun on schedule. But really, is being on a schedule in summer fun?

Instead, I’m extending an invitation. An invitation to them to join in. That’s what most of us want right? An invitation to join in? Sometimes that’s all that is needed. An invitation can make all the difference in the world…even in our own homes.

I’ve come up with a list just for me. I’m not sharing it with anyone (except all of you). These are the invitations I’ll extend totally casual and unplanned (wink).

1. Cook a meal together
2. Bake something together
3. Paint/Construct something together
4. Run through the sprinkler together
5. Plant something together and watch it grow
6. Make candles together (both my boys love scented candles)
7. Visit a new park
8. People watching Bingo (more on this later)
9. Make homemade popsicles
10. Read books in the hammock

What’s missing from my list? What needs to be added to get the true “summer experience”? What’s on your list?

XO, Nancy