Summer Holiday in my own Backyard

By Dawn Tolson

With the winter firmly here and the snow forecast again and again my thoughts are turning to summer. These cold days leave me longing to feel the warmth of the sun on my skin. If you have read my Brit in a GRITS world column "We're all Going on a Summer Holiday" about my disastrous vacation capers, then you will understand why I feel this. However, for 5 years now we have found our little piece of paradise in the sun, Beaufort, North Carolina.

The small historic town captures my imagination of pirates and times gone by. I walk along the streets imagining my feet are treading probably in the very spot that my countryman Blackbeard had walked. The beaches of Shackleford and Cape Look Out never cease to amaze me, and the crystal-clear waters can stand amongst the best in the world.

So does anyone else out there agree with me, or do you have a rival paradise that I can try?

Listless and Free

My latest column talked about the sabbatical my chronic list-making took ("The Surprising Sabbatical of My Lists"). The new routine of no-routine in summer caught me with my list down, and I reveled in it. The gift of a gift card also had its way with me, so my normal grocery list got thrown out the window. Along with my son out of school for summer, I also started a job that required I be gone half the time, which took up so much mental space that I forgot to list make (although I probably needed it more). Things were left undone, but I didn’t mind. Freedom from the list, listless, we enjoyed our free time.

Did summer stymie your to-do lists, or did they change in nature?

What was on your beach reading list? Really.

If you went from SAHM to working Mom, did your lists change?

Or, alternately, if you went from working Mom to SAHM, did they change?

What was on your summer vacation list?

Do your children make lists?

What in the world of Target would be on your list if you received a gift card?

On a completely random note, what do you think of the new ruling that 4-year-olds can now be sued, the little criminals?