I was fifteen minutes late to a call with my therapist today, mostly because I left my phone (which includes the sacred calendar) in the other room while I ate lunch. But also, it was bound to happen. Life feels so very full right now.
It’s spring.
Spring is a time when the whole world feels marked by a sense of urgency. It’s the end of the school year, so the powers that be believe we should commemorate the occasion with class parties and graduation festivities, final meetings and teacher celebrations, spring festivals and kickball tournaments and statewide testing too. Does it really come as a surprise that a father would mistakingly pack a can of Guinness in his child’s lunchbox?
We’re all a little frazzled, partially due to this little thing called spring.
But spring also has this funny way of stringing us along, dangling a carrot of hope before us on the path. Winter has passed, the frost is long over. The days are getting longer, and I don’t know about you, but I’m already dreaming about the summer months — of tomatoes and peppers, cucumbers and artichokes, sunflowers and strawflowers reaching up toward the sky.
For our family, summer tends to be rather simple: we garden, we go to the pool, we crank out a few more camping trips than usual.
But also, we read. Although my children will be in camps for part of the summer, there’s a fair amount of time they won’t be in camps, so my husband and I will juggle work alongside the garden-pool-camping trifecta.
And when that half of the summer arrives, well, there’s nothing like it. I make big plans to read all the things! — while simultaneously making tomato sauce, reminding my children to play nice at the pool, sitting on a nylon chair in the woods, and oh yeah, working).
So, if you too are itching to escape from spring or get a head start on summer reading, take a look at this short list.
I have a feeling you won’t be disappointed.
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Podcasts:
This is So Awkward. Remember when we all went through puberty a long, long time ago? You know how some of us now have humans we call our children who live in our homes and eat all our food and are now starting to go through puberty themselves? This podcast has been a game-changer for me. Also, bonus: it’s a book!
Kelly Corrigan Wonders. Just over a week ago, Kelly featured a short episode called “For the Good of the Wonder,” in which she highlighted a response letter from listener
. The letter and subsequent section from Micha’s new book, Blessed Are the Rest of Us was so powerful. Do check it out.Books:
Stamped: Racism, Antiracism and You (Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi). I was already a fan of the grown-up version of Stamped from the Beginning, but sometimes you need to read the Y.A. version to see things in a new light. I’m grateful for both of their voices and for the many ways they’re changing conversations of race and justice.
Happiness Falls (Angie Kim). Okay, please, somebody read this so I can have a discussion partner. Fiction is so subjective (as is nonfiction, I suppose), but this mixture of “mystery, a family drama, and a novel of profound philosophical inquiry” really blew me away and left me wanting more.
A Faith of Many Rooms (Debie Thomas). When Debie and I met in the fall, I was like, Oh yay! Someone who also inhabits that weird, spiritual, progressive-Christian writing space. And then I actually read her writing AND THE WORLD STOPPED. I’m telling you, Debie’s way with words are a gift. Pick up her latest book if this kind of writing is your jam.
So, there you go. Two podcasts, three books, and a thousand more I could direct you toward (but I won’t).
Enjoy!