Precious things

The last time I went away from home for a significant amount of time, it was in 2013, and we spent six weeks in France, Spain, and Wales (with a very short stop in London right at the end.) We left in mid-May and returned in late June, and I remember being surprised at how many things had changed - mainly in my yard - since I had been gone. I was also surprised at how many things were the same, but I hadn't really remembered them - like traffic. Not that there isn't traffic in all the places we visited - there certainly was. But I had mainly been a pedestrian, not a driver, so I didn't interact with them the same way.

Now I look around my yard and think of how everything is in full bloom right now, and how it'll be winter when I get back. This is the first year in a while that I have been starting to feel like my yard is in pretty good shape. The peas and raspberries are ripe, the kale is tall, and the tomatoes and cucumbers are doing their best under my somewhat shady conditions. And by "shady" I just mean that I have a lot of big trees. Really.

This time of year one of our favorites things is to picnic. My husband and I have always picnicked. When we were in college sometimes we would go out even on cold and somewhat rainy days and have "gothic picnics" at Whatcom falls park. Nowadays although we love to picnic at parks, we often just picnic in our own backyard. Our backyard is very private, and has really lovely shade. Since we live near the top of a hill there's almost always a bit of a breeze to help cool us down if it's a warmer day. It's pretty idyllic. So while I'm really excited about getting to go to Hungary, I'm sad that my husband won't be able to come with us for the whole time.

Since I've been thinking about all these things that we will miss, I've been trying to take extra time to do more of them before we go: more picnics, more playing in the yard, more spending time with family and friends. One part of my brain frets because it says I "should" be spending time fixing the faucet, or finishing cleaning out the basement, or pulling the rest of the weeds behind the cottage. The other part revels in the relationships that I'm building and maintaining by spending time with people instead. So I'm telling that other part of my brain to chill out. I'll get done the things that really need to get done before we go, and I'll have acquired the few things that we need to acquire before we go. The bags will be packed in due time. Those things can wait a little longer. Today is here for soaking up a little more time with the people that I'll be missing soon.