“Organizing is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up.” - A.A. Milne

No more pencils, no more books, no more teachers’ dirty looks!  School is over.  School is done.  We can stop learning and start having fun.

Summer is in full swing.  For me it’s time for bare feet, drenched swimsuits, BBQs with a smorgasbord of food, being at the lake, campfires with S’mores, warm sticky nights, and thunderstorms.  Remember being a kid, the freedom that summer epitomized; not having to study, sleeping in until noon and non-stop shenanigans with your pals.  If only we could all be youngsters again and have that spur-of-the-moment summer I recollect.  Unfortunately when we convert to grown-ups, I think we forget how to let go of all our responsibilities and delight in what’s right in front of us.  Think back; remember that feeling of the last day of school, when you were a kid.  It was in my opinion the second best day of the year, next to Christmas. 

For me, summer seems to arrive and depart so suddenly.  It’s almost a like a tease.  It’s here and now it’s gone.  Summer for us Northerners is a gigantic hurry up and get everything you have been meaning to do, in the fresh air, for the last nine months because it’s at long last, balmy out.  Summer tackles us so quickly and before you know it, it’s time for back to school shopping.  I forever feel like I try to shove a superfluous about of stuff, into only a few months, a gallon into a quart, if you will.  By the time the summer season comes to a close, I catch myself uttering the words, I’ve always wanted to this or that, there wasn’t time to do that, we forgot to go there and the list of summer regrets goes on.  We get so busy with weddings, graduations, festivals, parades, fireworks and other celebrations, not to mention the day to day of life, that I feel we sometimes neglect to do what it is we want to do, in the few brief sweltering months we get.   I continually feel guilty if I want to sit on the couch and watch a movie whist it’s nice out, we should relish the conditions while we have them kind of mentality.  If only we could bottle summer up and use it when we crave it throughout the year.  That would work for me!

A.A. Milne was quoted saying, “Organizing is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up.”   This might be my OCD moment because I always seem to feel better when I’m organized.  I’m a list person.  My father is always telling me I plan out too much.   I guess, I desire doing and seeing so much that I must plan it out otherwise I will regret not achieving it.  I don’t know why I do it; I guess it just works for me.  I make lists, so I feel like I’ve accomplished something for the day; it’s a visual acknowledgement that I did something, when I cross it off the list.  I guess it’s just my way.  My normal lists say things like do the laundry, mow the lawn, do the dishes, dust the house, vacuum and clean the floors.  You know all those mundane tasks that go with our day to day life.  As I am writing this, I’ve already started enjoying some of the fruits of my labor.   I’ve got my feet kicked up(figuratively and literally) on my outdoor couch, in my outdoor living space (one of my outdoor projects that I crossed off one of my lists) and I’m prepared to enjoy the summer months in front of me.

I probed my daughter the other day about what she wanted to do this summer.  I asked her to make a list, kind of like, a summer bucket list.  As I made clear to her, it's a list of things you want to do or undertake before the summer kicks the bucket.  I declare, this is the summer that I do the things I want to do.  My summer challenge is to cross off as many items on my summer bucket list as possible, no matter how immense or trivial they might be.  I have opted to put my organizational competences (AKA – OCD) to better use and make a queue that is FULL of things I’d like to do before the summer nights draw in (sure beats laundry and vacuuming).  If you haven’t already, figure out what makes you happy and do it.  Make your summer bucket list; it will be over before you know it.  You’d better hurry, I went to buy my daughter a bathing suit on the first day of her summer vacation and the store had backpacks and school uniforms already on display!!  For those of you that are parents and are dealing with kids this summer don’t forget to let them be kids.  They need to sleep in until noon, play with friends and not have a care in the world; it’s what makes being a kid so special.  They will have their whole lives to plan out their days when they are adults.  So, ask yourself what I want to do this summer and make your list, try to think about it through the eyes of a kid on the last day of school.  Organize your ideas so they aren’t all mixed up when you go to do them and don’t forget that some of the best things in life are spontaneous, so leave some room for that.  Good thing I remembered that, I’d better add be spontaneous to my list (wink, wink)!

Look for my daily pictures on social media; I’m going to chronicle all of my adventures along the way. What does your summer bucket list have on it?  Here is mine so far. 

Summer Bucket List

Go for a drive with no destination

LOTS of swimming

Sleep in a tent

Swim at night

Road trip

Camping in Old Forge

Paddle boarding

Start running (again!!)

Watch a sunrise

Watch a sunset

STAR GAZE – learn some NEW constellations

Go to the Drive In

Campfire with SMORES

Have a picnic

Spend time with family at the family cottage

Read LOTS of Books

Outdoor Movie Night @ home

Weekend Getaway

Watch movies ALL DAY

Take an online course

BLOG/write as much as I can

Movie theatre on HOT day

Ride a rollercoaster

Go to a Water park

Listen to music outside

Camping

Manicures/pedicures

Shopping for NOTHING – just looking at things we like

Go to a farmers market

Pick berries

Go roller-skating

Waterskiing/tubing

Run a Mud Run 5K – Vino & the Beast

Swim with Glow sticks in the pool

Take daily photos all summer

Dance in the rain

Eat something I’ve never eaten

Do a DIY project

Family bike ride

Make root beer floats

Spend a whole day on the boat

Swimming in the lake

Go on a nature hike

Spend the day at Barnes and Noble looking at books

Win a softball game with friends or at least have fun trying

Sit at the lake and spend time with family

Shopping with my daughter

BE SPONTANEOUS!!!