What is your most treasured summer memory?

Summer seems so long ago already. So strange. I do love fall. But still – I wanted to at least write a little post about my past summer. It went kinda quickly, filled with activies with my kids as it was our first school holiday.

Handmade button “Beach love” – HERE in the shop

My favourite memory will be of the days that I spent with my kids at the sea. I LOVE the sea. And it had been a while that I last had been there. We actually had not planned any travels – but in an urge for adventure we hopped on a train and went to the sea. Well, we did pack bags before and all that … :-) We had such an awesome time. And I learned alot. Actually, it was quite shocking how much you can learn in only four days. Here my favs: 

1. It feels awesome to get over your fear and do something that scares you.
   I had almost forgotten how that felt. I used to do many kinda scary things when I was younger. I went alone backpacking in Australia. I went alone hiking in the Scottish highlands. I went for long walks alone in the Texan dessert. Well, the last one I did not do alone. I went with a dog. :-) But you get the point. It was not that I was not scared of those things at all. But I did them anyway.

   After I have had my kids my fears … changed. So to me it seemed like the scariest thing ever to travel alone with my kids to a place where I knew noone. It seriously freaked me out. But you know what? Once I did it, not only did I survive. And yes, the kids are fine, too. ;-) It was good. It was actually quite awesome. Yes, it was exhausting as well. But now thinking of it, I am so glad that I did it and would not want to have missed it for the world. 

2. It is important to pay attention to your dreams.
   REALLY important. Until I stood at the edge of the sea and looked out over the mass of blue water … and felt such a beautiful peace … I had no idea how much I actually had missed the sea. Yes, I have always loved the sea. But I had no idea how important it really was to me. Just sitting there looking at it, touching it, listening to the sound of the waves … gave me so much peace, energy, power.

3. It makes life alot easier, if you stay “open”.
   Open for solutions that might not have been in your head before. Sometimes things that you dread and that seem „oh so wrong“ at first glance – turn out to be a blessing! For example a one-hour bus ride to a beach further along that my kids just HAD to go to. One hour stuck in a bus with my kids – and that was just ONE way – just did not sound too fun to me. We would be on a bus at least two hours that day, even longer counting how we got from the bus station back to the place we stayed at. It just did not seem worth it for a few hours on another beach. And if I would have done what I wanted to do, there would have been no busride. But I gave into my kids’ begging.
   And what shall I say, by the time the one hour bus ride came to an end I was wishing for it to last forever. It was just so amazing to sit on the bus, look out of the window over beautiful little villages and dose off a little while my kids sat quietely and happy next to me also looking out of the window. It was dreamy and a much needed break for me. I was so grateful for it.

And those were only my “favourite lessons” from the trip. :-) Honestly, I would have never thought that just four days can make you see so many things differently. And I will definitely think back to those days alot …

What is your most treasured summer memory?