Solstice

I almost forgot the summer solstice. Well, that's not entirely true. More accurate would be to say that I was a bit too overwhelmed by life and family stresses to pay attention to the summer solstice. My original plan included making giant suns out of paper and taping them on our dining room window. Suffice it to say that we never got around to doing this.

It was towards afternoon on Wednesday that Oldest decided to take matters into her own hands. "I wonder if the fairies will leave us presents again this year," she hinted out loud, "can we make them some food offerings?" So we put some fresh strawberries in a bowl and put them out in the yard after dinner. This led to a completely spontaneous but heartfelt celebration of summer. Husband and I started pulling some weeds while the kids played on the swingset. We stayed out until dark, with Oldest exclaiming "I love summer!" and "I love fairies!!!" and "I love life!!!" at the tops of her lungs. Occasionally she had to get off the swings to dole out hugs and make sure we all knew just how happy she was feeling just right then. A quick happy dance on the lawn, another hug for mom, and back to the swings it was.

I love the joyful noise. And of course the fairies were generous, delivering small polished rocks as a thank you for the good food.