A Seasonal Review: What Were the Most Satisfying Moments of Summer 2010?

The watch-shrub in my neighbor’s yard. Hope it doesn’t escape from that leash! Photo copyright by Lorna Tedder, all right reserved.

I’m taking my cue from friend Maggie Shayne and doing a “seasonal review.”  As this long, hot summer of 2010 fades away—the first hints of Autumn cool are on the horizon—I don’t want to remember the passing season as the one that was blemished by the BP Oil Spill here on the Gulf or by a serious but temporary illness that resulted from a bad reaction to allergy meds.  To make the best of the season, I’m looking back at its most satisfying moments.

Summer 2010 was the season of working on my core after a turbulent, off-kilter spring.  My core, my foundation.  And not just physically.

My most satisfying times were hours I spent with

Aislinn, talking about her life-altering decisions for the future, listening to Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games audiobooks and various Abraham-Hicks downloads together,  discussing her photography business and how to market it.   She’s grown up so much over the past year and we’ve become closer, but this summer has been really good with cementing a firm foundation between us.  I am especially happy, relieved, and—when I think back on it—pissed because it was only 5 months ago that someone tried to destroy our mother-daughter relationship and used her for the sake of pure drama.  I have the kind of relationship now with my younger daughter that I have always wanted, and when I think of what I might have lost because of someone else’s manipulations,  I feel both anger and hate.  And that’s honest.

I’ve also loved brainstorming my next novel with my older daughter and the long walks with her on the few times I’ve seen her all summer.  I loved the passion of writing and its feeling of channeling something direct from the Gods, too.

My home—a very physical foundation—has been a source of delight as I’ve listened to audiobooks on The History of the English Language  and such while painting and decorating, even cleaning the garage.  Every day that I turn into my driveway and see the huge tufts of gaura on one side and rudbekia on the other,  I feel uplifted.

And then there’s my personal foundation—my physical health.  I’m enjoying the euphoria of finishing a hardcore workout, sleeping soundly through the night, becoming stronger and more flexible every day.  I never thought I’d love Cardio-X so much or look forward to an hour of bicep curls or kick-boxing but I’m feeling GREAT.  And I love that about this summer—that every day I felt better than the day before.

So this season passes, and I honor it and the completion of new building blocks in my life.  Autumn will be even better.