These last two weeks have me doing the unthinkable - letting my mind wander and wish for the four letter f-word - Fall. I only think about it in a dull whisper, but I can’t help but yearn for the cool relief of Autumn. I am ashamed for letting myself wish this summer away so quickly. I daydream all Winter and all Spring for these days; the flowers in full bloom and Vergas beautiful and busy. This year feels a little different. Even the flowers are a little bit tired. They have had to work hard this year and so have I.

Maybe it’s this heat and and the unprecedented drought. Or it could be the business of flower farming with a newly mobile 9 month old. Perhaps it’s the exhausted energy of a short staffed tourist town in the peak of the summer season. Whatever it is I have decided I need to shake it. It’s not that I’m not enjoying the Summer. It’s not that at all. I have loved the flowers. I have loved the people I have been graced with. I have loved all the things this summer has allowed me to do. It is more that Autumn represents a little more leisure. A few less tasks on the to-do list. Obligations that are separated by moments of nothingness instead of bleeding together in constant flow.

Slowly I am realizing I don’t need Autumn’s permission to take some time for myself. “The choices I make about what I do with my time are my choices - even when they don’t appear to be.*” I fool myself into thinking that because True Blue Flower Co. is my passion - something I love - that it is considered failing if I need to take a break. Just because we take breaks from our passions doesn’t mean we are becoming less passionate or that we are loosing our steam. It means we are taking care of ourselves. We are finding balance. And we are learning how to live beautiful, sustainable lives.

So this week I am choosing to do some of my favorite summer time things. I began reading a cheesy Nantucket summer romance novel (28 Summers by Elin Hilderbrand). I have spent some time in my garden - not my flowers but my much loved veggie garden. I have drank some beers and shared some meals with some dear friends. And later this week I am hoping to spend an early morning on the water, waking up with the day. There may be a million task at hand right now, but I am finding sweet freedom and a revived love of summer in “the choices I make about what I do with my time ...”

The end of July finds us with a little bit of an event slow down. We have one more Women’s Wednesday on July 21 and one more U-Pick July 24th until we pick back up in August! No yoga July 28th or August 1st! Kari from Twisted Yoga and I both have weddings and obligations we would hate to miss! We can’t wait to catch back up in August.

These past few weeks have brought incredible joy! From yoga and U-Picks to opening the farm stand, it has been more than I could have ever imagined.

*Meditation for Women Who Do Too Much.