Have you ever noticed how summer tends to speedy by, leaving you puzzling, as you shovel the driveway in January, over where the heck the time went and why you didn’t seem to get in any of the things you’d wanted/intended/planned to do? Me, too. But things are going a little differently at my house this summer…and I have to say, I rather like the change.
You see, my youngest daughter has returned home from her rather traumatic time in Toronto, and while things are beginning to settle down for her a little (and for me, now that I’m not on 24-hour-text alert!), she still needs some time to rebuild her reserves. As part of the healing process, I’m spending one day a week doing something fun with her, and to that end, we’ve put together our Summer Bucket List.
It’s a list of all the things about which we’ve said, “We should do that one day,” but never seem to get around to. Everything on it needs to be something we can do in a few hours, so most items are local, and road trips have to be within a day’s drive there and back. We add things to the list as we think of them, combine two or three here and there when it makes sense to do so, and change plans on the fly when the weather doesn’t cooperate…and we are having so much fun.
Part plan and part impulse, our list is an oh-so-fancy bunch of Post-it notes on the fridge. We look them over on 
Mondays, decide what we want to do that week, and choose a plan B in case of rain. Whatever we choose, we have dedicated time to talk, helping daughter with her transition back to Ottawa, and ensuring that I don’t get to the end of the summer having failed to get out of all-work-and-no-play mode…again.
To date we’ve spent a day at Upper Canada Village (a living history 1860s village near Ottawa), checked out a cat cafe near us (we wouldn’t recommend it), gone to see Tarzan (we would recommend it), checked out the Canadian Museum of History, and had lunch at one of daughter’s favourite restaurants. Next week we’re thinking a walk in Gatineau Park followed by ice cream, but time—and weather—will tell.
I’m thinking I need to start a second list for me and hubby!
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