The Summer of Us!

Friday was my last day of work and my summer vacation began! For the next 75 days I am officially off duty as a teacher. Now it is time to relax, recharge and rejuvenate myself. A few years ago I started a daily summer journal documenting each one of my fun and carefree vacation days! It is a great way for me to look back and remember everything I while on vacation. It can go by so fast and writing about it helps me to savor every moment. Some may think this is corny but I also name my summers. Yes, my summers have a theme!!! Why? Well it helps me to reach a specific personal goal that I want to accomplish during this time. Some of my past summers have been: The Summer of Gratefulness, The Summer of Renewal, and The Summer of Reinvention. Each one of these themes has a special meaning to me.

My theme for this summer is simple...the Summer of Us! Who is the us? Women, of course. Now this is a different type of theme since usually my summers are all about me. But recently I have noticed that many women including myself just need so time to simply be us. We have so many titles wife, mommy, employee, should I go on? All these roles can eventually take a toll on us. We spend so much time taking care of everyone else but how often do we just get to be Us? Just, Nikki or just (insert your name here). So this summer I plan to spend time with a few phenomenal women....w/o kids, men or agendas! Just us girls getting together for a few hours here and there to eat, drink, talk, laugh and have fun!

We all tend to underestimate the need to socialize with other amazing women. I am a strong believer that we all need time to be free to say what we feel without little ears listening and to socialize with other women who can relate to your everyday issues. It all about loving yourself enough to know that it is okay to take a break away from your family once and awhile. Trust me the house, kids and husband will be right there when you return…probably messy, hungry and happy to see you. One great effect of hanging with the girls is that our families need to know that it’s okay for us to have fun and be carefree every once and awhile. It doesn’t mean we love them less but it helps us to appreciate them more.

So go ahead celebrate the Summer of Us with me and everything that is fabulous about being a woman!