I have come into a season of looseness — fewer plans, less on my plate, more space to tinker. A big part of this limberness: my manuscript is more or less done, off with the copy-editors for a thorough scrub. There are many phases of writing; I feel now like the August tree whose blossoms have fallen but whose leaves remain green: not in bloom but not yet winter-fallow. Verdant but unflowering, witnessing the slowest part of the season.
We recently encountered a Saturday with zero plans: no sports, parties, or obligations, not even the cloud-gathering of next-day plans, either. A big white space in the middle of the weekend. So we jumped in the car and drove to a nature preserve on the Chesapeake Bay, where we walked until the kids complained of tired feet, and then we fed them granola bars crouched in the buggy grass. We carried home silly jokes, the smell of the bay air, a couple of bug bites. My children wrote down every mossy and feathered thing they’d seen, from the delicate-legged egrets wading in the marsh water to the bunnies disappearing into the forelock of the brush. I felt a deep sense of well-being the entire day, as though I’d reached the bottom of a well. I found myself picking up the Patti Smith chaplet: Thank you Bay, thank you body, thank you birds. After, as we ate pasta on the back porch with the cicadas and redbirds around us, I wondered at the simplicity of the day. Its clean lines, its unfussiness. We were just a few stick figures stalking about in the grass, noticing things, carrying no expectations with us. We were holding hands, we were pointing at the sky, we were the simplest shapes of happiness.
What gives you this deep sense of well-being?
{My son’s illustrated list of the animals he saw on the Chesapeake Bay — I’d given both my kids these nature-motif journals to keep track!}
An abridged list I put together on the heels of that perfect Saturday —
Things That Give Me a Deep Sense of Well-being
A slow Saturday with nowhere to be
A small sign that I’m on the right path
Watching my children eat
Sitting on the back steps of my home after a solid run
A sentence that gives shape to an emotional wilderness
My mom calling me honey
That warm laundry feeling of returning home after I’ve accomplished something intimidating
Laughing off an embarrassing story with my sister (“oh my God, Jen!”) — lets the air right out of the room
Not having to fill in the blanks with a friend
Waiting for, then witnessing, the turn of the seasons
Remembering I don’t have to take myself so seriously
The first laugh my husband coaxes out of me after I’ve been crying
Post-Scripts.
+Today is my fifteen year anniversary with my husband! Wow! A propos: the best gifts he’s ever given me (none of them material), the time he handed me an envelope containing the universe, and a reflection on how we’ve shielded one another.
Shopping Break.
+Love this textured sweater jacket in the stripe!
+I’ve been crushing on RL recently. I just ordered this denim button-down (will be so cute with a pair of white eyelet shorts), and now I am beginning to lust after this play bag.
+Absolutely love this cardigan. I own in pink. Love the green, too!
+A perfect pair of white jeans. Imagine with this top!
+WAIT, I’m crushing on everything at The Upside right now: this sports bra, this leggings/bra set, and this fleece! ACK!
+Been living in these slippers.
+CHIC scalloped frames.
+We have this one occasional chair in our family room that I ADORE that our interior designer sourced and had upholstered. It has bobble wooden detailing on the arms and legs, and is so similar to this one.
+I feel like Julia Amory drops new fabulous pieces daily — I LOVE these shorts that she just released yesterday!
+The sweetest anorak for a little girl.
+Chloe vibes with these shearling-lined clogs. While you’re there — I am OBSESSED with this shearling jacket for a bebe. And this entire cord look!
+Wait, I just noticed AYR carries men’s clothing. I have this, this, and this in my cart for Landon’s fall wardrobe.
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