No summer jobs and a bit of boredom...

This summer, I decided to convince my teens to NOT get a summer job and instead

spend the summer with me at the cottage. Now before you judge, let me tell you this was not an easy decision for any of us. Our world, where we live is built based on always moving forward in life and striving for more. More money, more experience, more things, more friends, more time, just more. I find it takes strong conviction and desire to slow down. To avoid getting swept up in the "race" of life you must be constantly checking your values. We have by no means "achieved" this so called balance, we are working on it.

I understand the need for hard work to be something we teach our teenagers. When I was 14, I was super keen to get out into the workforce and make some cash. I was gearing myself up to buy converse shoes and a few Club Monaco sweatshirts. You know that feeling of getting your first pay check and figuring out how to save some and spend lots! Ha ha ha! Work is something my parents instilled in me as a child, big time. My husband has a similar story, luckily, so trying to replicate this with our kids at least, is something we are on the same page about.

Now enter Breast Cancer. Blah!

At first, I wanted this summer to dive into rest for myself. This last year and a half has been A LOT for me. I was feeling a bit dragged down. I wanted to rest and walk on the beach and get stronger. I wanted to spend time with family and friends. I wanted to write, journal, build this blog and website. I wanted to heal. It was all about healing ME! lol To say illness took the front seat in my life, is not surprising.

However when I tell you that it felt like our whole family had cancer you might wonder what that looks like?

Well, it wore us all out. From extra chores around the house, to extra driving, to loads of medical appointments, it took its toll. Everyone around me took on more responsibility. This spring I started to see some signs of serious fatigue in all of us. What could I do? How could I help? How can I fix this? I take my role as matriarch of the family very seriously. I keep us healthy, I keep us active, I keep us learning, I keep our mental health in check -as best I can. I keep us moving forward. However, for well over a year ALL of this was handed over to my husband and kids. Somedays I couldn't even decide if I wanted to eat, let alone call the dentist and make appts for us all. Then to actually organize us to get to said appointments. Forget it.

So the kids and I took the summer off. We dove into down time and rest. We got a bit bored. We missed Daddy and our friends. We spent time with family. We swam and ate whatever we wanted. We napped and went for walks. We watched movies and went for ice cream. Sounds dreamy right? Ya, I know. It was.

Now it is back to school and I hope that our down time this summer gave the kids enough of a break to feel energized for this coming school year.

I suppose you best take this blog post with a grain of salt, lol. As I am of course writing from MY perspective. The rest of the family may not feel the same...

Until next time, stay well my friends.