July 01st, 2018

Summertime…. and the livin room is full of boxes and suitcases.

Packing for trips, packing for college, packing up junk that we once thought was good stuff and we just don’t need cluttering up our lives and home anymore.

Our home and our lives are in a state of major transition, and while I don’t want to be so dramatic as to describe it as chaos, the truth is that it is pretty friggen disorderly.

The changes are good ones, but they are still big and we’re in this weird space of in between right now.

Things aren’t where they used to be, and are on the verge of changing again,and in huuuuuuge ways to the next phase.

It’s all happening any minute…. but it’s not quite happened yet.

So, we wait,

and we pack.

I try to clean up and organize little spaces of peace~ like clearing and wiping the kitchen counters, even though I know in 47 seconds there will be crumbs and wrappers and keys that no one but me seems to be annoyed by, or vacuuming the living room couch, which I have to immediately blockade with other furniture to keep my incontinent old dog from disobediently hopping up on to nap, and subsequently leaving a wet spot.

I take boxes to the Goodwill and trash to the curb. I fill the recycling can to overflowing. I check our passports for the 84th time to make sure they didn’t suddenly disappear or expire. I wonder what furniture I will move where. I Google for answers to random questions on logistics, costs, and everything my busy mind can come up with.

Being present has never been my #1 skill, but I want to enjoy this time right now.

This next few months, we have teenagers moving, a trip with my offspring to Costa Rica, a business trip to Denver, and then Europe with my love. There will be trips to Sacramento, San Diego and even Fresno inbetween. (The last one makes me laugh every time I say it)

Plus, there’s work, and the garden and animals and life.

I can’t (or more truthfully I don’t want to) commit to writing and publishing new stuff on any regular basis with all this living going on.

So, while I’m enjoying my current family adventures, I’ll be sharing some oldie but goodie vacation essays here on Zesty Mom.

Reading them again myself makes me simultaneously wonder what in the heck I was thinking a good deal of the time while being so glad that I came up with and went along with so many hare brained schemes with my family.

It’s been a heck of a ride with these people, and I’m excited for the journeys ahead.

Happy Summer!