Friday & Favourites Vol. 40
Staycations
Dear friends,
For many of us, this month is filled with getaways and cookouts, trips to the swimming pool, and nights at the drive-in theater. As writers, we here at Of Trees and Poetry relish in summer vacation, but also find ourselves using our notebooks more often for swatting away mosquitoes than writing poetry. But rest can look like sweaty palms and stolen moments of creativity. And abundance can be found in all the sweaty, sun-filled summertime goodness.
I, Julia, spent the Fourth of July weekend with family and friends, and got many bug bites. But the best part was being reunited with my husband, who’d been gone for work for THREE WEEKS! During those three weeks, I could have wallowed and dreaded each day, but instead, I allowed my mindset to shift. What if I pretended I was on some strange, lonely holiday with my children? What would we do? What would we eat? Maybe it would be ok if I hardly found time to write. Somehow, I found grace to be kind to myself.
I amended my grocery lists to include easier-to-prep meals and a few more fun treats like popsicles. We made homemade ice cream to “celebrate” surviving our first week without Daddy! And in the evenings, we visited parks or Auntie’s house and read more books than ever before. (I was desperate to avoid relying on screen time)
It was a very strange kind of holiday, but my mindset made it feel more fun than I could have hoped. And by accommodating myself for a more difficult day-to-day rhythm, I allowed for disruption in my routine without losing my mind.
As writers, the seasons changing can feel like disruption after disruption. But these three weeks without my husband helped me put disruption in perspective. We can still make the most out of our day even when things aren’t ideal. I think we can even find ways to keep up some sort of writing routine if we aren’t so rigid with what that must look like. I encourage you this week to embrace the disruption and find ways to adjust your creative rhythms to better suit whatever season you are in.
Here are some poems that inspired us this week:
Crane Migration, Platte River by Marjorie Saiser
Starting from Paumanok by Walt Whitman
The Amazon River Dolphin by Linda Rodriguez
The Magnificent Frigatebird by Ada Limón
Looking Out the Window Poem by Denis Johnson
Thank you for reading, and may you have a blessed weekend!
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I relate to this so much. Bc of my husband’s grad program, he’d leave for a whole month for hospital rotations. I dreaded those months, but found ways to enjoy them with Catalina. I applaud you for your attitude, my friend! It’s no easy task to survive three weeks without Daddy and while being pregnant.
Also, love how you related this to writing. I find that when life is full of anxieties (but also when is it not) my writing suffers. But this is a great encouragement to push forward regardless of what schedules/routines/seasons look like.
🤍