Hello there, lovely ones,

I don’t know what it’s like at your house, but over here we’ve been going through sunscreen and bug spray in impressive quantities.

Kids in the pool.
Popsicle parties.
The smell of BBQ drifting through the neighborhood.

After dinner poofs on the lawn, wishing on stars before bedtime. (Mary says to tell you these are bean bag chairs, we call them "poofs" around here.)

... This is actually my second draft of this week's newsletter.
The first version was basically just a summer picnic menu.
Lemonade. Watermelon. Cherries. Corn on the cob. Hot dogs. Ice cream. Roasted marshmallows.

I had to laugh at myself, I got a little carried away.

That says something. Two things actually:
First, like our daughter says, “Mom is always hungry.”
And. There really is something about this time of year that invites us to enjoy.

Here I am, sitting typing this to you while our daughter is diving for rocks at the bottom of the pool. Pelicans just flew overhead. I’m feeling the warm breeze on my face, listening to the branches moving in the wind.

It carries its own rhythm.
It’s such a natural invitation to let go and to loosen the grip of the doer in us.

The heat causes us to slow down.

To take off some layers. To float. To lay outside on a lawn chair.

Summer doesn’t ask us to try harder.
It asks us to surrender how we’ve been living and linger a little longer.

Have a conversation on the porch. Go bare feet in the grass.
Watch the sky change color at the end of the day.

These ordinary moments become our lives. So this weekend, I hope you allow yourself a slightly different rhythm.

And as we move through Memorial Day in this country, I also find myself giving thanks to those who gave everything so we could treasure these ordinary, beautiful moments.

And because May is Meditation Month, I wanted to share a conversation from a few years ago that still feels incredibly relevant. I found myself revisiting it this week as summer begins to unfold around us. Click here to watch.

Maybe it will meet you exactly where you are, too.

Happy Summer.

Love, Sage 🪷