Green Child Magazine Summer 2013 | Page 7

from our publisher & editor Welcome, summer! I hinted at it last year, but this time I’ll come right out and say it… Summer is my favorite season. It reminds me of the freedom of childhood. No schedules, just days filled with riding bikes, reading a book on a blanket, or finding just the perfect stepping stones to cross a creek without falling in. Thinking back to your early summers, does it make you wonder what happened to those carefree days? Maybe we get older and take on so many responsibilities, we forget what made us feel alive. Or perhaps that connection gets buried so deeply, we don’t even recognize it anymore. I know, because it happened to me. After college and nearly 5 years in the corporate world, I had forgotten that part of me that relished freedom from expectations and schedules. Experiencing pregnancy and giving birth – doing what my body was designed to do – helped reawaken that connection. For the first time in years, I remembered how right it felt to play outside so long you forgot to come in for dinner. I marveled at my son’s delight at an interesting rock or a bird flying overhead. When people talk about how much you give of yourself as a parent, I can certainly relate. But the ebb and flow of life is such that you can never give without receiving. One of the best gifts my boys have given me is a rekindled connection with my soul. And a decade of amazing summers. Amity 7