I have a new appreciation for summer.
(I didn't really have an old appreciation for it, summer has never been my favourite season).

Not for the heat or for holidays.
But for the magic long summer days can work on a growing child.

My summer memories are many and mostly happy.
But I don't think I understood the value of this time in a child's life until this summer.
This summer of watching my child (almost 6) stretch and grow and become so strong in so many new ways.
Maybe the season coincided with some growth spurt, some shift out of early and into middle childhood...maybe, but I think it was just summer itself, working its magic.

This year we left our summer mostly unplanned.
Punctuated by a few Vacation Bible Schools in the community and a few family visits, but mostly wide open.
A planned camping trip and a spur of the moment one.
If the weather was good, we picked a beach (our vehicle is brimming with sand, lawn chairs, towels and a giant blue orca)~ I can pack for a day at the beach in about 5 minutes~ called a friend and hit the sand.
The house is no tidier.
We really didn't do any of the school work we thought we ought to do.
We are more tanned (and more stocked up on Vitamin D) than we could have expected.
And it has been grand.

There will be plenty of dark winter days for house tidying and homework.

Our learning has been of a different sort.
The joy of movement and the gift of an able body.
A delight in the world around and the resources for exploration anmd adventure.

This summer, Rowan has been riding horses (and falling and getting back on), learned to do the monkey bars there AND back, learned to paddle a kayak and walk it home when the wind blows you away, become a better cyclist, conquered her fear and swum in deep water and dove off the 'deep dock'., climbed trees and hiked on rocky trails, built castles and rode on giant blue orcas and pumped a swing with her legs all by herself.
She has eaten well (never her habit) and slept deeply (in her top bunk, no less!).
Told a lot of terrible jokes (that she thinks are hilarious) and stayed up late.
  I have watched my daughter blossom and bloom in her independence and trust in her own abilities and strengths. 
That is the magic I never knew about.
I may have experienced it as a child, but I didn't know it by name.
It's name is summer.
♥♥