Just a thought… May you give yourself permission to genuinely enjoy your life again, even if it doesn’t look how you thought it would. [We the Urban/tinybuddha.com]

Welcome to a new week and a brand new season.

Nature and time have presented us today with a big reason to celebrate (that is, if you love this season as much as I do) – the first full day of summer. We walked the dogs at 10 o’clock last night and marvelled at the shades of coral still hanging in the sky just over the ocean, which we glimpsed through the thick trees. How we love these long, lighter evenings! And we’ll cherish every minute of them that we have, just as we try to do with life itself. But sometimes, we can’t help looking back.

It was 13 years ago today that we had so much to celebrate as Lauren became a bride and Rob and I helped to make her day as memorable as it could be. It was a muggy Saturday in Jackson’s Point, on the shores of Lake Simcoe, Ontario and the rain held off so that the bubbles that greeted Lauren and her groom as they emerged from the tiny chapel on our cottage road were able to loft to the skies, accompanied by our fondest wishes for joy and laughter ever after. You can see that happiness and pride in our three faces as Rob and I both walked her down the aisle.

Of course, since then so much has changed that it still feels like that day and the 22 years that preceded it were a dream.

But today I suppose we have a different reason to feel lighter: we’ve gotten over the last hurdle of our usual spring slog where we mark our daughter’s birthday, Mother’s Day, her day of leaving, Father’s Day and then her wedding day, all between March 24 and June 22. Now that two month dark cloud on our annual calendar has passed. And on we go.

I wonder today if anyone else at her wedding stopped to remember this day 13 years ago and, honestly, I think the answer is no. Because life goes on “within you and without you” as George Harrison so beautifully wrote. We remember, and I guess that’s what matters.

It’s also why I saved this piece when I scrolled upon it on Instagram a while back, and thought it might resonate with you, too.

@jamesonarisi is a beautiful follow. And you have a lovely week.