Summer Prep

We sit, once again, on the brink of the summer season.

This poses some challenges as it does every year. The schedule is about to get insane. The pace even crazier. Hours are long, days are hot (or wet, or windy, or scary) and the introduction of summer staff to the mix means the dynamics are completely different.

Am I ready for it?

Does it matter?

Really, in two weeks it won't even occur to me. The phrase we used when we got back from Russia eleven (!) years ago was "assimilator." There were all sorts of different ways of dealing with plunging back into normal life -- there were those who dwelled on what once was and had a hard time, there were others who could jump in and enjoy both normal life and the memories of where they'd been, and then there were assimilators. We're the ones that, when put in a new situation, tend to forget about the old one and barge on ahead with what needs to be done right now.

Handy at times, but it means that I've already forgotten parts of my pretty darn good vacation, even though it ended only six days ago. It also means that once the summer starts, I'll forget that there are other things to think about, other events outside the camp, and other people to talk to.

I don't like that.

I've learned a few things over the last four years. If I don't plan ahead, I won't take a break. If I don't pay attention, I'll get swept up into the season and forget to sleep. If I don't take notes, I'll completely lose track of who comes in the following week.

None of it is difficult, exactly, but it all requires a bit more consciousness on my part. So I find myself doing some different prep this week -- getting a few meals put together and frozen so I can eat at home when the mood strikes, mapping out some hikes (including time required) so I can fit them in whenever possible, marking up a calendar with the weeks I should be able to get away a bit more, and putting together my "let's go right now" bag for quick hours down to the creek. I've even got a reading list, for the first time in years. (It's not very long, but at least it exists.)

And so my goal: kick some serious butt this summer, but enjoy it, too.

... I may need some help.