This fire life isn’t easy living in a beach town, and we are only just getting started. I love our life, our hectic, unpredictable, crazy life. One lesson I learned last summer is that if we don’t plan to spend time together, if plans aren’t put on the calendar, if days aren’t taken off in advance when needed, the season will pass us by. When there are things we want to do, as a fire family, as much as I want to be spontaneous and fly by the seat of my pants on some days, and we can have those days, and they can be great, we have to be intentional also. It is a balance, a delicate dance, a daily practice, a way of life, our life. Of course, things don’t always work out even when we put plans on the calendar. We had family time on the calendar for this past weekend to go to the driving range and out to eat, but we had to pivot as our oldest son is taking longer to recover from having his wisdom teeth out than we anticipated. Instead of an evening out together, we got an unplanned movie night in. In those hours, I took so much comfort and joy in the 5 of us being in the same place at the same time, together. It was beautiful.

Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails. Proverbs 19:21

My goal for this summer is to be intentional. I’d love to hear from other fire families about how you do summer time. How do you set aside time? How do you pivot plans? What do you do when you have time to be spontaneous? What is your attitude towards the fire calendar/schedule?