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July 17, 2022

6 highlights of summer so far

One of the Kat Bouska prompts this week is: List your top 6 summer moments so far.

Here are mine:

The Orlando Fringe Festival

My son, daughter-in-law and I went to the Orlando Fringe Festival in May. (I know summer doesn’t technically start until June, but it was so hot that weekend, it must have qualified for faux summer.) It was such a treat to be with them, to see MiserABBA, Shakespeare’s Aliens and The Untold Story of Hansel and Gretel, which starred my dear friend, Katie Parsons.

6 highlights of summer so far
Wayne, Patience, Katie and me

Global Coptic Day

On Global Coptic Day, I fulfilled something I had talked about in a previous blog — a desire to visit churches of other denominations. Thank you to St. Mary & St. George Coptic Orthodox Church for the warm welcome and for this memento — my name in Coptic.

6 highlights of summer so far
My name in Coptic letters

No phone, no Apple watch for hours

When we were in Michigan in June, we stayed out on Lake Goguac with friends for hours. I had put my phone and watch away. Hours flew by, then I grabbed my phone and saw that it was 9:30 p.m. — and still light outside! Good friends, seemingly endless daylight. Perfection.

(I don’t have a good picture to share of that, seeing as how my phone was put away most of the time!)

Time with family in Michigan

Wayne and I traveled to Michigan for a week last month for a family reunion on his side (this is how we ended up at the lake mentioned above; it was a visit to friends). The family members we saw were his mother’s sister, her husband, and many cousins we had not seen for quite some time. Ever since we lost Wayne’s brother Pat in February, we’ve been even more cognizant of the need to be with family. It was worth the drive and the expense.

IKEA with my daughter

My daughter and I took a trip to see my father for a Father’s Day lunch at his assisted living facility, then to Jacksonville for her to pick up a bridesmaid’s dress she had gotten altered. We also made a little trip to Ikea (is any trip to Ikea little?). It’s so fun to be with her for this type of thing. It’s always good for a laugh (I mean — neither one of us is a genius at estimating whether a huge box will fit into an Altima (spoiler alert: it did)) and it’s so interesting to see her approach to putting her house together. Most of all, time with kids is time with kids, no matter how old they get.

Watching the circus at the Ringling

My husband, sister-in-law, brother-in-law and I were at the Ringling Museum in Sarasota on June 16. We had already bought our tickets for the museum and the house on the property when we realized there was also a circus show. We got three of the last four tickets (my husband didn’t want to go). It was such a delightful show. The performer on the rola-bola was so good. I just kept thinking of the intersection of balance and confidence — if you overthink, you’re going to fall. It seems like such an allegory for decisions I’ve had to make lately.

It’s July 17 and there’s a lot more summer left. I’m looking forward to experiencing at least six more positive things!

Paula Kiger
Paula Kiger

Wife of one, Mom of two, Friend of many. My pronouns are she/her/hers.

Filed Under: Reflections

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Robin says

    July 18, 2022 at 11:02 am

    What fun!

    Reply
    • Paula Kiger (Big Green Pen) says

      July 20, 2022 at 9:01 am

      Yes!

      Reply
  2. Abby says

    July 18, 2022 at 12:33 pm

    It looks like your summer is racking up nice memories for you, and it’s only half over!
    And good advice – I’ll try not to overthink ๐Ÿ™‚

    Reply
    • Paula Kiger (Big Green Pen) says

      July 20, 2022 at 9:01 am

      That learning not to overthink thing is a perpetual project!

      Reply
  3. Diane Tolley says

    July 20, 2022 at 7:41 pm

    Wow! I love summertime with family and friends!
    And I had to look up what a rola-bola was. Yikes! (I can’t even stand up on a paddle board!)

    Reply
    • Paula Kiger (Big Green Pen) says

      July 21, 2022 at 2:36 pm

      Sorry about that (on the rola-bola). I looked for a video of that specific performer on YouTube and unfortunately couldn’t find one. He had such presence. Thanks for dropping by!

      Reply

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