Reversed summer list

Sometimes people like to make lists of all the things they want to get done before holidays. They plan and prepare. For the past few years I haven’t planned anything for the summer.  “Just be and enjoy” has been my motto (not that I ever said it out loud or wrote it down.)

My not scientifically proved summer theory is: Keeping expectations low and general - to get rested and have some fun - you can’t get stressed or disappointed.

Since I didn’t have a list at the beginning of the summer, I decided to make one now, so I would have something I could write check marks next to, and feel, “Oh, Yes! I did it all!” Besides I may use the list for future slices. I did not include the annoying things like mosquitoes, ticks, cold rainy days, stomach flu, snakes, frogs and mice. The list has big and small things all mixed up in no particular order.

1.     Swimming in the sea  (even if I had nothing else on my list, I could say that my summer expectations had been met)

2.     Reading books (10 adult books, and some of them really thick, dropped only 2)

3.     Writing 8 summer slices (I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to write any, since our country house has no internet, and that’s where I was most of the summer)

4.     Napping in a hammock

5.     Visiting Tallinn TV Tower

6.     Walking in the Zoo

7.     Meeting with old friends I hadn’t seen for years - a children writer, a journalist, a teacher, and a medicine student. (All four on different occasions.)

8.     Chilling in a handicraft camp

9.     Going to a different beach than my usual one

10.  Swinging

11.  Strolling on a bog trail 

12.  Picking blueberries berries (just to eat)

13.  Playing rackets with Mimm

14.  Giving driving directions to strangers (getting better at  this)

15.  Watching sunrise on a misty morning

16.  Walking in the crowd during Tallinn Sea days (I had an unexpected child free day with my husband and we couldn’t find anything else to do. It would have never been on our list of things to do in the summer.)

17. Listening to a cello quartet in Seaplane hangars (see the comment above)

18. Sitting side by side with my hubby on a couch and watching two videos in a row  (that’s what we could come up with on our second child free day)

19.  Spending time in Rakvere Castle (2 kids and 4 adults)

20.  Watching albums with my 80-year-old aunt

21.  Riding bikes with my sister

22.  Doing yoga on a beach without anyone else there

23.  Walking in Kadriorg park with my husband (originally we were just looking where to park for an event the week later)

24.  Eating in a cafe (The same place I went to with my mom and sis in the spring. I found out that mom had taken dad there too.)

25. Drinking fresh peppermint tea daily 

26.  Picking raspberries (for a jam)

27. Painting pebbles with a nail polish

28. Polishing nails (I have been to a manicure only twice in my life, and it bothered me both times that I had to sit and wait so long. Now I understand and appreciate it, because I painted nails myself this time, and had to redo about five times, because I had no patience to wait for the nails to dry properly.)

29. Going to a small lovely wedding in Katharinenthal Café (now you know why we were looking for parking earlier)

30.  Dancing in Kadriorg Park (more like gently swaying to jazz)

31.  Braiding hair

32.  Buying lavender and wine in a gardening store

33.  Making ice cream with condensed milk and whipped cream (yummier than any store bought ice-cream)

34. Bringing all the necessary materials for making a piñata (two this time)

35. Cleaning my inbox and desktop

36.  Getting all 6 carpets cleaned this summer (you would think that’s no big deal, but for me it is, because the dry cleaner is far away)

37.  Organized one closet, leaving 1 empty shelf (inspired by Gretchen Ruben)

38.  Giving away my neat trousers to my middle daughter (I almost put it on the annoying list, because there is sadness in not fitting in those clothes. It’s in this list because when I get fit, I will get them back. Shh! Don’t tell my daughter)

39. Visiting my 78 year old aunt (and watching more albums)

40.  Posing next to a mammoth in Ice Age Center

41.  Seeing lynx in Elistvere Animal park

42.  Seeing vixen twice (once during a day in our village and once on a road in the darkness of the evening)

43. Getting advice from a bank consultant (A woman from a bank had been calling me for several years at least twice a year, more often this year, so I finally gave up and went)

44. Participating in a construction work (gave a bit of my help in sand castle building)

45. Picking mushrooms (One from this list that I can check off already as written slice)

46.  Watching “Iron Lady” and “The King’s Speech” with my sister.

47. Sleeping like a teenager

48. Meeting my oldest in the airport with a large cardboard sign and balloons. (My youngest held the sign and my nephew held the balloons. They looked much better than the chauffeurs with their A-4 printed signs.)

49.  Celebrating my middle daughter’s 17^th birthday.

50.  Using my writer’s journal to record some future writing ideas.

I started writing this list as a reversed to-do list to show what I have accomplished or what wishes have become true. But in reality this is a gratitude list for a wonderful summer I had. Maybe I should have included the annoying things like mosquitoes, ticks, cold rainy days, stomach flu, snakes, frogs and mice.  They stirred life up a bit and reminded not to take our health and pleasures for granted.

I went to school yesterday.  Today is a national holiday, a day to pause, before I will start full speed school life tomorrow. I hope that my body and brain are fit for it. Last year I had a really hard time letting go of the summer. I won’t say that I am ready for fall or school yet, but I am ready to say good-bye to my summer. Or at least I am getting ready to say good-bye.