Before I got sick I had an ever-growing to-do list.
Gardening, organization, putting food by, building projects... so much to do this first summer at our farm.
And then Lyme came.
And I put the list away.
(I kept it, mind you. But I've stopped looking at if for the moment.)
The antibiotics I'm taking require me to stay out of the sun. (Yes. In July.) So I'm carving out time and space to rest and heal while summer swirls around me.
So instead of working I'm knitting more than usual. Quick, easy, adorable baby things for all the babies coming into my life.
And I'm sitting in the shade while the kids play outside.
I'm playing board games at the table during hours I would have spent pulling weeds and tending gardens and working my ass off.
I'm healing and resting and just being here. Now.
And truly, it's been so good for me.
What a gift it has been.
The pressure is off. I'm doing what I want, when I want.
And I'm healing.
: : :
But then...
the berries started to ripen.
And I imagined a winter without jam in the pantry.
Without a freezer full of fruit for smoothies and desserts.
And honestly I couldn't bear it.
So we headed out to the cherry tree and the mulberry tree and picked until our hands were purple.
And we stopped by Mary's farm and ordered all the strawberries she could spare. (25 quarts as it turned out.)
And suddenly we're elbow deep in summer sweetness.
And simultaneously: ack!/hooray!
If I'm honest I'd admit to craving this flurry of busy.
It feels like a little bit of July normalcy. A little canning jar madness in my sunny aftrernoon.
And despite the 16 quarts of berries waiting for me on the porch this morning, the pressure is off.
We'll accomplish what we can and the rest will get bagged and frozen and we'll call it enough.
I think I like this new plan. All the sweetness, none of the pressure.
Yeah. I could live like this.
Love,
Rachel
