A Summer Update

Favorite beach reads, too-hot-to-cook recipes, and a writing prompt too!

Jul 16, 2024

1It was a mostly ordinary Monday afternoon. After dropping my oldest off at the theater, I took the dog for a walk. When I got home, I poured myself a bowl of cereal, knowing we’d have a late dinner. I had no idea what I would make — I hadn’t planned meals for when my husband was gone. This work trip was so last minute. At such an inopportune time. With dress rehearsals every night sandwiched between two weekends of all-day recitals, I was feeling tapped out.

The phone rang and I picked it up before the tone finished its customized song.

“Let me start with I’m okay.”

Right away I went on high alert. But I never imagined the next words that came out of his mouth. My husband had been walking from a work conference to a work dinner when a twelve-year-old boy stuck a gun in his ribs. He called me from the back of a police car, where he had been riding while the police tried to find the kids who performed the act. It turned out to be a toy gun—but he didn’t know that at the time.

At the very moment I was putting makeup on my 12-year-old daughter and carefully french braiding her hair into a bun, a 12-year-old boy with a very different life was riding a broken bike, threatening my husband with a toy gun, desperate for any bit of attention or money he could get.

Three weeks later, my friend called to tell me her husband died. He was a cancer survivor until six months ago his cancer returned. He left behind his wife and two daughters similar ages to mine. Although I didn’t know him well, my kids are some of his kids’ closest friends.

To say the summer has been hard is an understatement. There’s so much more to both stories, but right now, that’s all I feel ready to share. We’re doing the best we can. We’re leaning into small joys, being intentional about making memories, and finding time to rest. We’re spending time with friends, carving out time for exercise and therapy, and finding new ways to be creative. We’re reading books, writing down stories and prayers, and enjoying the extreme heat of summer at the beaches and the pool.

I’m grateful for summer, when our schedule is a little freer, the weather is a little nicer, and small miracles are around us everywhere we look.

I had such great plans to read harder this summer, but when life threw big wrenches, I pivoted. So instead, I’m leaning into fun, easier reads. Here are a few I’ve loved:

Once A Queen2 is the perfect blend of reality and fairy tale. It reminded me a bit of Narnia and A Wrinkle in Time. I loved it so much more than I thought I would.

Dad Camp was such an excellent beach/pool read. It’s lighthearted and fun and gives a great glimpse into how dads of tweens are really feeling deep down inside.

Would it even be summer without a new Abby Jiminez novel? Just For the Summer is not hard literature but it is one of those feel good rom-com books with a predictable happy ending that is perfect for summer.

Ever wonder what kind of books the Queen of England reads? Or if she reads at all? The Uncommon Reader imagines what it might be like when the Queen of England first discovers the vast variety of books in the public library.

I read The Outermost House in a day. It is a beautifully written memoir that instantly transports you to the Cape Cod National Seashore - in all its majesty and terror. If you can’t go to the beach this summer, this book might be exactly what you need to take you there. If you’re going to the beach this summer, bring it along with you.

If you’ve been here a while, you know how much I love Emily Giffin. I’m anxiously awaiting the library copy of The Summer Pact. Have you read it yet??

For breakfast, make these Cottage Cheese Pancakes. Unlike regular pancakes, they are full of protein and will keep your crew full for longer than the average pancake breakfast.

Pack this Beach Bean Salad for lunch and take it on all your summer adventures.

For dinner, make Grilled Flatbread (gifted link) with any and all grilled veggies you like, Tortellini with Peas and Prosciutto (it’s so good with fresh peas), or my personal favorite: Zucchini Butter pasta.

Last week, I spent two days in solo retreat mode. My new office was the perfect space to read, write, pray, and simply be alone with my thoughts and feelings. After a particularly ugly morning of writing very hard stuff, I treated myself to a fun prompt: Newspaper Found Poetry. Based on this idea, I jotted down a few notes about a morning walk where I discovered monarch caterpillar eggs. Then I went through a local paper and cut out words that stuck out to me. Finally, I used the words I found to create a poem. If you need to shake up your creative writing life, I highly recommend trying it!

This will be the last monthly newsletter in its current format. I’m discovering shorter emails are better for all of us, so beginning in August you’ll get all the same content (books, playlists, recipes and more) but will hear from me a little more frequently. I hope you have a restful, sun-filled rest of the summer!

Until next time,

Photo by Nyana Stoica on Unsplash.

Links in this email may be affiliate links, which simply means I get a very small portion of your purchase price as a thank you for telling you about it. So far, I’ve actually made zero money from this, but there’s a law saying I have to tell you, so there you go.