IT'S SUMMER!!!

Break out those swimsuits! Just kidding! Of course it's not summer yet (you still have time to work on that beach bod :), but it is just around the bend for South Texas; it will be here before we know it! Truly, today I'm not writing about summer, so much as an attitude of summer, which makes me think of my dear friend GirlTracy and the summer we spent so much time together. It was one of the most relaxing, fun, carefree summers I've enjoyed as an adult!

The two of us had volunteered as chairpersons for the decoration committee for our kids' preschool's annual fundraiser, The Dinner Dance. This is no folksy clambake; it is a out and out shinDIG complete with sit down buffet, fancy linens and flowers, BEAUTIFUL decorations (if I do say so myself!), live auction and a dance on the huge back lawn of the fanciest mansion for miles around! I like to describe it as a wedding party with no wedding. That's how much planning goes into i! There is always a theme, and at the end, when it all comes together; all of the contributions of each committee - it is simply amazing! It is the small preschool's only fundraiser, and year after year it pulls in enough to operate the school for the following year while keeping tuition affordable to most.

ANYhoo... we started planning and scrambling for donations of supplies in January. We started hitting up our committee (actually, that was more GT's job; she's an awesome task-master!) and planning work days on the weekends. They were always at her house because she had a big shop and a huge fenced yard with tons of toys for all the kiddos; we could actually get work done and store our large half-finished projects there as well. We talked to each other on the phone several times a day and did alot of running around together too. In short, we became good friends. She appreciated my artsy nature, my sparkling wit, and our kids got along like peas and carrots :) I appreciated her shoot-from-the-hip ability to make people step up, her droll, tell-it-like-it-is sense of humor, and her all-around competence in any task. We pulled it all together - our "Night in Rome"- and several people told me the decorations were as good as they had ever seen! How rewarding!! What a team we made!

Well, with the Dinner Dance done and gone, and shortly thereafter school out for summer, we continued our friendship; maintaining our daily phone conversations, we began walking together and getting together on weekends as well. My then-hubby was overseas for six months, and her then-hubby was always working, so we would just hang out and let the kids live it up. For being such a natural-born manager, I haven't met many people who know how to relax and let go like GT does! I would say, "Gosh, I should probably get the kids home..."

"Why? IT"S SUMMER!"

"Well, I guess you're right... what's the hurry. Should we bathe them? They're filthy.."

"Why? They'll just want to come back outside and get dirty again. You know they won't stay inside! Besides, IT"S SUMMER!"

Or I'd be at home some evening, all involved in my same ol' routine and she'd call. "Come over! I'll make your favorite noodle salad!" (Girl, you know how I love your noodle salad!)

"Oh, I don't know; I have laundry going and was going to clean the bathrooms..."

"Oh PLEASE, Girl!! Get your butt over here! IT"S SUMMER!!!"

I miss her and those days. What a wonderful summer that was! And although I do like to putter around my house doing this or that, and don't ALWAYS want to be swept away, sometimes I do get a bit too focused on the day-to-day tasks and resist getting out and doing something out of the ordinary. Sometimes I might can even be a bit... er...well... STUBBORN (gasp!) and can use a little push or pull!!

I've had a pretty relaxing spring break week; accomplished a bit, worked a bit, done nothing a bit more! Hey - IT"S SPRING BREAK!!! TG, I love ya Girl!!!! Maybe you can visit soon... maybe this summer (?) I know you have lots on your plate and everything... But hey!! I know what you'd say! Love, RED

INTERVAL FOR LAZINESS

This will be better than all of the climbing -

Let the road wind wherever it will;

There is a time when nothing is better

Than listening, looking, just sitting still.

Here is a log, as a cushion for thinking,

Here are green trees as a shadow for rest;

There is a time when going on further

Takes too much effort, and stopping is best.

I can remember the turn of the roadway,

Where tang of the mint and tang of the pine

Met in the wind - and to think of that meeting

The rest of the way I can gladly resign.

Perhaps I have found it! - the secret the old know,

That nothing ahead is so pleasant to find

As just sitting down, in the shade or sunshine,

Rocking and dreaming of what is behind.

By Helen Frazee-Bower