I’m thankful for days like these. Days where the weather is cool in the morning, despite August having just reared its flower-crowned head. Days where I take the short walk down the road to the pool and I get it all to myself. I can float on the water and watch a dragon chase a mermaid across the sky. Clouds block the sun’s intensity, but the moon peeks out, reluctant to turn away. Days where I can open my favorite magazine and read slowly, with nothing pressing to do, not articles to write, no urgency.

I’m not a frantic person, and I don’t run on schedules – anyone in my family will tell you that I pack for a trip three hours before it’s time to leave, and I run on last-minute decisions because I won’t have made up my mind until then. Yet, for a laid back person, my mind runs a steady caucus race, a whirlpool of thoughts and things I have to do and a self-imposed checklist. Write that guest post. Answer those three emails. Work on the interview, work on that art commission, edit that chapter, write five pages, read that person’s manuscript.

As a result, I forget to slow down and let myself catch up. Today is a catching-up day. A day where I turn on a summer playlist and read blogs and gather inspiration, where I take a deep breath and my thoughts stop sprinting and slow to a lope. Maybe even a stroll.

PLAYLIST

Everything’s Okay – Lenka

You Picked Me – A Fine Frenzy

Almost Lover – A Fine Frenzy

Lost Boys – Novelette

Warming Moon – Rogue Valley

Happier – A Fine Frenzy

Last of Days – A Fine Frenzy