#Summerofrich has been on a hiatus since last Fall. We don’t normally do much in the way of outdoor activities in the winter months anyway (I despise the cold), however this past winter could have likely been the exception due to the warmer than average temperatures we experienced, but Rich has unfortunately been nursing a hernia and anxiously awaiting his surgery date since late Fall.
With the long await and surgery now finally behind him, Rich will be as good as new, even better, and ready to climb mountains again after some much needed rest and rejuvenation in the coming weeks before we kick off the start of the #summerofrich 2024 season very soon. First up on the agenda will hopefully be the “Kids Help Phone”, Walk So Kids Can Talk, Walkathon which we participated in last spring for the first time. It was very meaningful.
Every year since its inception about seven years ago, now I like to give a recap of how the #summerofrich came to be for any newcomers to my page who may be wondering what the heck it is exactly.
The #summerofrich first began with a simple exclamation one (very) early Friday morning at the end of June as we stood waving goodbye to our three children as they drove away on the bus to camp for the next seven and a half glorious weeks (I actually think 1 or 2 of them may have been staff that summer and had therefore already left for camp a few days prior, but not important!).
They weren’t even out of the parking lot yet when Rich turned to me with the biggest smile on his face (I, on the otherhand had tears in my eyes), his arms raised high above his head as he shouted, “It’s the Summer of Rich!”.
He wasted no time at all getting started, either. Our first activity on the #summerofrich agenda that year (and several years following until Covid hit) was already scheduled for later that morning. We were off to the spa for His and Her pedicures.
The #summerofrich meant that he now had a seven plus week break; a well deserved, much needed and VERY much earned break from the burdensome role he has taken on as both mom and dad, chef extraordinaire, therapist, errand schlepper, grocery bagger, laundry folder and much, much more for the other forty something weeks of the year; a role which he has so selflessly done for the better part of ten years now since I first became ill.
When Covid hit and the inevitable announcement came that May that overnight camps would not be running in 2020 I thought for a brief moment that we should just cancel the #summerofrich all together seeing as Rich would not be getting his well deserved, much needed and VERY much earned break (or pedicure). Then I realized that we didn’t have to cancel it at all. We just needed to pivot somewhat; after all, we no longer had all three kids away for the summer by then anyhow.
Yes, the #summerofrich may have started out as a well deserved, much needed and VERY much earned break for Rich during those seven or eight weeks that the kids were away at camp but it’s since become so much bigger than that now. In many ways, the #summerofrich has morphed itself into something way deeper and with an even more meaningful purpose. And not just in the summer months, either.
It’s become a healthy outlet and a perfect escape for both of us to take care of our mental health while having fun spending quality time together in nature and discovering parts of us, and Ontario, we never knew existed before.
If you were to have told me 6 or 7 years ago that I would be enjoying the great outdoors, bugs and all; venturing way outside my comfort zone, chasing waterfalls, weathering each changing season, taking us on hiking trails (some quite challenging) all across our beautiful Province and exploring the beauty of nature, I’d have said you were crazy.
We have both come to discover instead just how beautiful, spirited, inspiring, healing and valuable nature truly can be and how much it reminds us while we are on our #summerofrich adventures that anything is possible when you can see the forest through the trees.
It also makes me so happy knowing that sharing our adventures has actually brought so much joy to others as well. Hashtag Summerofrich has created quite the following!
Where will the trails take us next? Stay tuned.
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YouAreEnough 