Hammock Time

Today was another beautiful day. I felt the pull to be outside all day, as though I’ve been severely deprived of warm sunny days for a long time and am fearful they will disappear again. Hmm.

Also, I am becoming slightly obsessed with the space that can no longer be called “apple tree clutter”. The more I clear, the more the vision evolves; it now includes a “nature playground” with tree stumps, a log balance beam, a rope or tire swing, some sort of monkey bar thing from one tree to another, and most definitely a mud kitchen. I have to remember to pace myself… this should all happen over the space of years, not days.

But I wasn’t going to write about the apple tree clutter space, or even the garden, today. I was going to write about a rare moment of doing nothing.

In the late afternoon, pretty much as soon as Dave got home from work, the fatigue of having been outside and busy all day caught up with me. Or perhaps that is when I allowed myself to acknowledge it. So I decided to take a minute to myself in the hammock. It was blissful… slowly rocking, blue sky through the green pine branches, birds chirping their early evening songs. I would have fallen asleep, except that it really was only a minute because that is how long it took the kids to realize I had escaped, come find me, and climb into the hammock with (on top of) me.

Hanging out in the hammock with three kids squirming and kicking and trying to get comfortable is not relaxing – there are a lot of feet in the face – but it was pleasant. That time (the minute without the kids and the minutes with the kids) was a good reminder to slow down and enjoy the season… in addition to getting stuff done.