The Wright Place: Havin' a Great Day Here...

If you were to call my home today, I'd probably answer, "Hello, we're havin' a great day here at Sam's!" And...if you called my home today and I answered the phone like that, you'd probably wonder why I thought I was at Sam's Club.

I don't think I'm at Sam's Club at all, I'm just having a super day, but I really do like how the Sam's Club folks answer the phone when you call them to ask a question. They say (or at least they used to say when telephones and not computers, were used to acquire pertinent information) "Hello, we're havin' a great day here at Sam's Club, how can we help you?" It makes me want to go on down to Sam's and see what those crazy employees are up to and maybe buy a 5 pound tub of peanut butter while I'm there.

Early last week, when I was having a great day, I answered the phone with my Sam's Club greeting. I felt very safe doing so because the caller ID on my home phone indicated that it was none other than my Mom calling.

"Hi, we're having a great day here at Sam's!" said I cheerily.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize you were shopping! I'll call you back later."

"Mom...I'm not really at Sam's. I'm at home, where you called me," I explained quickly.

"Why did you say you were at Sam's?"

"Because I'm having a great day!"

"Oh, okaaaaay..."

And on went our conversation, which included me relating why my day was great. Today is a great one too, for lots of reasons, the main one being that my kids have been outside playing for most of the day.

There are three wonderful things about that last sentence:

My kids - I love 'em. I'm glad they're mine and I'm glad they are still kids. They'll always be mine, but they won't always be kids.

outside playing - I've been doing a gob of reading lately on the topic of "living intentionally." Sounds kind of weighty I know, but the subject is fascinating to me. Part of what I've been reading has really gotten my attention about how little time children these days, mine included, enjoy unstructured times of play especially outdoors.

In her book Organized Simplicity, Tsh Oxenreider quotes another author, Richard Louv who says, "It takes time--loose, unstructured dreamtime--to experience nature in a meaningful way. Unless parents are vigilant, such time becomes a scarce resource, because time is consumed by multiple invisible forces; because our culture currently places so little value on natural play."

Mr. Louv goes on to report that between 1981 and 2003, children have lost nine hours of unstructured time per week. I'd like to hand my gang back a few of those hours this summer!

most of the day -after listening to a few chapters of a book on tape and helping me with a few chores this morning, the kids were released into the wilds of our backyard, and have been out there ever since. I've got to call them in soon to get ready for our evening activities, the structured kind alas. They are sweaty and stinky and dirty, but what a super time in the fresh air and sunshine they've had.

Other reasons for this great day include, but are not at all limited to:

A small nagging project that has been accomplished.

A major project that is well on it's way to completion.

Molly in this shirt and these shoes.

She calls the shirt "my thunny thirt" (sunny shirt) and she lives in the hot pink shoes.

What's not to love?

Megan's summer freckles are reappearing and I adore them, and her!

Molly took a killer nap and woke up calling for me and smelling so much like a baby again, I loved the ~~walk~~ sniff down memory lane.

I thrilled my outside kids with strawberry smoothies and since I already had the blender out...

I found a recipe for a cold coffee drink recipe that kept me cool while, from inside, I watched the children get pink and sweaty. I'm planning on spending many a summer afternoon with it.