Summer Splendor

Wonderment, Wanderment, & Becoming Serendipitous

These early days of Summer are some of our favorites.There are reasons for this:

The light has grown -- in both general intensity and length of days (the Solstice being the most famous example of long-light-wonder -- and the official first day of Summer),

Things that had only begun to bloom in March and April are approaching full flower,

School is out (or almost out),

Any and all nature suddenly seems especially beckoning,

And an indisputable sense of something close to (if not actually) magic

hangs in the air

(like morning mist still might for those of us in coastal places)

(like the first few fireflies you or your children spy)

(like the last bursts of pollen that coat our windowsills or outdoor tables)

And suddenly (but a soft kind of suddenly, a gentle unmistakable OH, MY, YES suddenly)

we’re more than inclined to give in to wandering impulses,

Be they the daydreaming kind

or the moongazing kind

or the beachwalking kind

or the innerjourneying kind

Or any combination of the above kinds

Or more

Wherever we find ourselves. Even (espeically) nearby home.

The last two are important -- the ‘wherever we find ourselves’ and ‘nearby home’ parts,

because this swoonymagic week or so around the Solstice

is not limited to location or particularly tied to any one place or climate.

It’s for all of us, wherever we are, whoever we are, whomever we are with, and with whatever level of wonder each of us has on hand or is game to allow.

And so are the following words:

WONDERMENT is a word we know (and love), meaning (perhaps unsurprisingly) “a state of wonder,”

WANDERMENT is a word we recently (and delightedly) learned is *actually* a word, which means “the action or state of wandering,”

SERENDIPITOUS is a word we’ve long enjoyed but never until recently knew could also be used to describe a character trait, namely “having “the faculty of making happy & unexpected discoveries by accident.”

Why share these three and why now? Because:

1) we’re in that interpolary zone we described earlier

2) WONDERMENT, WANDERMENT, and becoming SERENDIPITOUS accurately relate to something that can (if we let it) happen to any of us: moments of mini-transcendence that might happen (or are already happening) very close to home...

Like this walk I took recently with Lu Where we decided to engage in local wanderment:Where we found evidence of others being or becoming serendipitous (fairy offerings)

Where there was tangible proof that more than one someone wanted to leave a reminder of joy --

whether it was for fairies, whether it was in gratitude of rain and blooms after so much drought,

whether it was a tiny altar or a place of prayer, whether it was the grounds for a picnic of sprites,

Whether it was the work of children or the gift of a sly gardener

What matters is that we let ourselves notice

(apparently we are all already serendipitious souls, we just have to accept it)

SUMMERTIME, Waxing Poetic style

We’re very fortunate, being based in California, to live in a land of [almost] Eternal Summer, but despite our nearly year-round golden weather and adventure-beckoning landscape, the advent of actual Summer itself still feels as magical to our transplanted hearts as it did growing up in a place with a proper seasonal quartet – maybe even more so, because we understand Summer both with and beyond our childhood associations. Summer is more than magical, it’s a kind of magic itself, and we’re positively crackling with excitement for its arrival.

Summer smells differently than the rest of the year. It tastes differently. It looks different. Our shadows are different colors – yes, actual colors, if you look down at your own some almost evening, you might notice how it’s, almost bluish purple in the waning light on a sunset sidewalk, or how in June-August, the light can transform a parking lot or our own backyards into a place of glittering anticipation. Summer physically feels different – it’s warmer, frequently wetter (especially if we’re at the beach or the lake or the river or even sitting poolside), and wonderfully easy – as if, if we were so inclined, we could climb into a hammock with a good book and a light blanket and lounge through the days until fall (an idea which has its own delicious appeal but doesn’t allow so much for sharing the experience, so we’ll keep it but not above others). Depending on where you live, or where you visit (indeed: where are you journeying this summer, friends? Heading to a different coast, or aiming towards the heartland for a landlocked-but-rivers-and-lakes-aplenty vacation filled with fireflies and fireworks?), Summer promises an abundance of landscape options, both external and internal. Summer is a time to revel in abundance, to enjoy longer days and stone fruits and school holidays (even if it doesn’t directly apply to you at present, you can feel the glee in the air and cheer for those whose lives get official 3 month breaks…and have nostalgia for that era yourself) and barbecues and really long hikes and paddle-boarding in lagoons and laughing with old friends and trips abroad if you’re fortunate or trips within if you’re choosing the (very worthy) introspective/soul searching route – just don’t forget your journal or your sketchbook. Summer is a time for adventure.At Waxing Poetic, we believe wholeheartedly in Celebrating the Journey, whether it’s metaphoric, historic, internal, or as summer often allows, external and beyond. With Summer on the horizon, we’re looking forward to what that means for our continuing journeys (yours, ours, and everyone we love’s in between) and newly minted ones. We’re hoping for long-into-the-night dinner parties with dear friends and even longer Skype sessions with overseas or across-the-nation family, we’re hoping for good books and new favorite poems and the Instagram feed that will (quite literally) change our life for the better, we’re hoping for wonder and discovery and love so intense it almost gives you chills if it weren’t lighting you up like so many bright paper lanterns strung across your heart’s horizon…we’re hoping for these things and more, and we’re inviting them by seeking them out. This Summer, join us in our quest – there is no one adventure, there is no one journey, but there are a great deal of glorious stories and vignettes and experiences and firsts to be had and if we all are especially mindful, we can keep these things bright and blooming. Let’s all go outside. Let’s promise to at least one time this summer take advantage of our backyard, or favorite beach, or tiny balcony, and have a nighttime picnic replete with candles. Let’s learn a song. Let’s teach someone or each other something. Let’s make an inordinately big deal out of our children’s swimming lesson successes (hey: let’s be honest, some of us might do to take some refresher courses, if only for form). Let’s have dance parties. Let’s remember shared secret and milestones and give each other (friends yes! Sisters yes! Spouses sure! Children yes!) unconventional anniversary gifts (i.e. a bangle and a mermaid charm to commemorate some long ago weekend at Catalina with your childhood friend, when you both went cliff diving (if jumping off a 10 foot rock counts, which we suppose it does, when you’re 14) and lots of hugs and causes for laughter and let’s just be a little more reckless with our generosity of spirit and a little kinder and a little brighter and a little bloom-ier because…it’s a season, after all, and things will evolve along with you. So, make it wonderful.