What I Learned This Spring

Summertime, and the livin’ is easy—or so the old song goes.

Easy isn’t quite how I’d describe what’s been going around here, though. We haven’t eased into summer break; we’ve charged ahead with all cylinders at full throttle. All the cylinders of my minivan’s poor engine, that is—the same vehicle that logged a grand total of 15 round trips to Lilly’s ballet school last week.

Sounds crazy, I know. But that’s what happens when your daughter volunteers at a morning theater camp and then returns later in the day to participate in long rehearsals for the school’s upcoming performances of Cinderella.

It’s all good, but it doesn’t leave much time for focused writing. So today, I’m going to take a cue from all those “What I Learned in May” blog posts I saw last week and offer up my own little summary of recent observations. Since it covers more than a month, let’s just call it “What I Learned This Spring.”

• Possums can climb straight up tree trunks and walk along the top of wooden fences. They also don’t mind when you take pictures of them in your backyard.

• Accidentally hitting publish on a blog post that you’ve barely started writing is momentarily embarrassing, but it’s not the end of the world.

• It is entirely possible to break your foot and not feel any pain at all unless you are trying to walk (or so I’m told).

• Perennials in your flowerbeds that originated in someone else’s garden produce the loveliest blooms.

• After you spend years avoiding nearly all forms of social media, joining the Twittersphere (@loisflowers16) is not nearly as complicated or scary as you thought it would be.

• When your OneWord for the year is satisfied, you had better prepare yourself for an onslaught of opportunities to be just the opposite.

• Choosing to outfit an entire basement wall in floor-to-almost-ceiling bookshelves is one of the best decorating decisions you will ever make.

• And who knew that listening to your 11- and 14-year-old daughters argue about who gets to go to Lowe’s with Dad on Saturday morning could bring you so much joy?

• The hardest part of teaching a class for women at your church is not the actual teaching, nor the actual preparing. It’s the mental and emotional battles that sometimes result from doing what you’ve been called to do.

• You might think that when one daughter finishes elementary school and the other daughter finishes middle school at the same time, you would be awash in sadness and sentimentality. But after witnessing all kinds of fascinating growth in each of them in recent months, you might actually find that you are quite looking forward to the next chapters in both of their lives.

• Friendships among people who share a love of books and reading are among the best friendships of all.

• Understanding from someone who was once where you are is a rare and precious gift.

• When you’re all out of words, it’s OK not to say anything at all.

♥ Lois