Note from Nicole ~ The Truth About This Summer

By Nicole Donnelly

I had a sappy piece written for this week's note about how great this summer has been. I told about how the couple of vacations my family took were amazing. The days at the pool have been long and good. How riding ocean waves with our sons were a highlight.

I was about to hit the publish button but couldn't quite do it. Because while we have made some amazing memories this summer (that part is true), it's also been one of the most difficult for me.

We are heading into month 18 of this pandemic. Our families have been on top of each other all day, every day for a year and a half. The responsibilities of being a mom feel like a crushing weight some days. The stability of our jobs have gone through periods of uncertainty. One of my family's trips was scarred by my own crippling anxiety, which has stuck around for weeks. Our kids have had exposures to COVID. I could go on and on.

I think we can all agree that this has been a strange year and the path we'll be on in just a few weeks isn't certain. Through it all, though, I am trying hard to harvest that same old sense of urgency to milk the last remnants of summer for all they're worth.

So while I battle my anxiety and tension, I'll continue to pick tomatoes with my kids from our garden. We'll head out on our wrap-up-summer vacation and I will make good memories with my family. We'll get in a date night and enjoy the last few weeks of sunscreen-filled pool days.

It's hard, but it's good, too. My glass is half-full.

xoxo,

Nicole

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