The Weight of All Good Things

The amount I've posted on this blog reflects something of the amount of enthusiasm I have towards this summer at the moment. The end of the semester was totes cray (as they say) and now is the perfect time to pick up the miserable amount of my slack. Thus far the heaping quantity of the summer's lame-itude has been frustrating BUT, nevertheless, this blog is not only supposed to serve as an outlet for whatever bloggers blog about but also specifically for talking about the gobs and gobs of things to be happy about in each and every boring day. And that means no matter how pathetically dull it gets there's still many a reason to get on with things with a good ounce or two of gratitude.

So. What am I happy about after too many trips to the dentist this week, separation from many of my friends and my amazing little nephew and my terribly crazy and fun sister and her husband, a general feeling of complete and utter rottenness, and the lull of waiting for a job application to be processed?

Well, here's a list:

• Books. Now is the perfect time to spend with my other good friends (the ones I've never actually met because regrettably they died before I was born) - Tolkien, Chesterton, Lewis, St. Augustine, Newman, O'Connor, Wodehouse, Dostoyevsky, etc. (And I'm just guessing I'd call the last three "friends" because I'll admit right now that I haven't read very much of them yet. This is precisely why I need to tackle my massive reading list.)
• Tea. 'Nuff said.
• Sleep. At the very least I'm not pulling all-nighters and that's something to be thankful for.
• Time with the rest of my family. When it's not overly chaotic it is very pleasant to be able to sit down and just talk with my mom or dad and have silly exchanges with my brother.
• The potential to meet up with my lovely high school friends. I say potential because none of us have actually done it yet *cough*. Darn those conflicting schedules.
• The excitement of Rome this fall. It's not always something I'm looking forward to because I'll absolutely hate to leave behind the Dome and my friends but, c'mon, even if it turns out to be an awful year it won't be half that bad.
• The ability to do so many things with all this time I magically now have...things like writing, drawing, physical exercise (*snort*), and most especially playing music.    

So, while I gather up my energy to do the things I would like to I wonder if maybe this chronic summer slump every year isn't due in part to the crushing weight suddenly thrown on me of having the time and freedom to accomplish all sorts of things. I know for quite a while I've been in need of a rest and silence and now that that chance has come I'm put off by it. It makes everything seem like some sort of burden because I'm not rushing around and I'm used to that. Now summer is just a wasteland of time. The slump under the weight of this time is only made overwhelming by the myriad possibilities of what I can do with it. But the heaviness of things makes us appreciate their magnitude and there's a lot of good that can be done in the presence of gratitude. After all, God isn't very subtle about His goodness to begin with.