Veggie Week: Beneath the Surface

Every once in a while, a week arrives that feels like one long exhale. You could feel everyone just settling into themselves.

Growth is funny that way. It rarely feels peaceful while it's happening. It often looks messy. It asks for patience. It asks for adults to hold steady while children figure something out that we can't always name. And then, almost without warning, you look around and realize the room has become quieter. Not because the children are quieter, but because they seem more at home within themselves.

I've always felt there is a rhythm to the seasons. Summer is the season of expansion. Our feet carry us further down the trail and their questions become bigger. We noice more because the world is not covered in a blanket of mud, snow, or leaves. We are reaching farther into the world around us. Everything just seems to be growing outward. However, while branches stretch toward the sun, roots are quietly growing deeper beneath the surface.

Children are much the same. Even in a season of exploration and adventure, you catch these beautiful glimpses of inward growth. This week, I saw it clearly. As we breathed beneath the open sky, every child seemed fully present. Fully engaged. There was an ease that is difficult to describe. It was simply the feeling that everyone had settled a little more deeply into themselves.

And sometimes that just what growth looks like. Not another branch visibly reaching outward. But roots quietly growing deeper.

Next week, we shift into water week. The children have been begging for the splash pad. Looking at the forecast, you might be thinking, "This would have been the perfect week to cool off with splashing." I was second guessing myself last week wondering if I was going to regret not switching it. But this whole week when we stepped outside and felt that heavy, humid air wrapping around us, it didn't feel like it would be refreshing. It felt like too much. So instead of filling the tuff trays and splash pad after our morning walks, we filled the kitchen. We pickled veggies, baked muffins, and spent our time creating together indoors. I'm grateful saved the water for next week.