Soaking up the silence...

In honor of the first day of summer yesterday, I created a compilation of summer photos. Summer has always been a favorite of mine because it means pool time and beach days. This summer, however, has brought about two new traditions that I not just look forward to, but get really excited about- lemonade and reading in my new hammock. It was my 30th birthday present from my husband. (The hammock, not the lemonade.) Some people might be happy to receive a new purse or jewelry from their husband on their birthday. My husband got me the greatest gift for me- more time outside.

Today as I was sitting in my hammock reading an amazing new book that my husband lent me (more blogs about that to come for sure), I started to notice everything around me. For some reason, the sky looked bluer and the grass looked greener than I'd ever seen it before. I stopped reading for a moment and listened... to some distant classic rock music from the house down the street, to my neighbor, Bob, talking with my husband in the front yard, to a helicopter flying overhead. I listened to all those things, and to nothing at all. Sometimes I think silence is the best medicine. We get so little of it anymore. We're either in the car with the radio on, in the house with the tv on, or just plain talking too much.

The best stress relief to me is not rest or watching tv or eating ice cream, it's being outside and being quiet. Cell phones away, computers away. Just by myself. I heard somewhere recently that some people stay so busy because they are unable to just sit with themselves. They just can't do it, even for a minute. Maybe that's true. I don't know. But I do know that my backyard is as healing for me as any far off destination I could ever travel to.


Top (l-r): my bottle collection; my new birthday present; my latest companion.
Bottom (l-r): Bellamy smelling a blade of grass; reading- my favorite pastime; an evening thunderstorm.