Taste Life Blog

I’m busy savoring! The speed of life has slowed down in my hometown of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It’s only 5:30 am and I am wide awake ready to JUMP out of bed and start my day. As I lay in Tyler’s lower bunk bed surrounded by stuffed animals and look at the kids sleeping on the floor I realize I am savoring.

Savoring is defined as “awareness of pleasure and the deliberate conscious attention to the experience of pleasure.”*   I lie there thinking of last night’s “Aunt Chere stories.” I dredge up stories from our travels, the grocery store (my favorite place after my garden) and people I have met. I struggle trying to stay awake and the kids saying, “Tell us another funny story.” Last night Hannah asked me to tell them the “funny tricycle story.” I will never know what is funny about me driving my trike down the basement stairs when I was two or three.  Last night I told them maybe that wild ride down the basement stairs is why I am so bad in math. They laughed at that.

Happiness studies show it is not the result of good genes or luck but that happiness can be created.  Every year I create the Best Summer of Your Life Club. Members create a list of 14 activities they wish to do during the 14 weeks between Memorial Day and Labor Day.  In looking through their lists I realize a theme developed…it was all about creating memories with people in their lives. Studies show that the very happy people spend the least time alone and the most time socializing and they rated highest on good relationships by themselves and also by their friends.

I am happy to share their best summer lists in the hopes you create your own savory summer.

Nour 

I want to make 2 beach trips, one in June and another in July. I want to find a baby sitter so my husband and I can go kayaking in the Potomac river. And I want to take my toddler to a simple hike.  I want to buy a bike and go riding since we’re teaching the toddler how to use the tricycle. And most important of all: potty training! 

Christine

I want to swim after dark
I want to fly a kite
I want to try a new flavor of ice cream
I want to hear an outdoor concert in a park
I want to buy a treat from the ice cream truck

Jen

Have a beach party
Make a special dessert
Go to a water park
Face paint
Have a family campout

Sonja

Try at least 1 new ethnic restaurant in Charlotte
Learn to dehydrate / dry the summer fruit we pick
Read 4 new books this summer
Take an improv acting class with local theater company
Try a new class at the Y (tai chi, or zumba) has to be something I’ve never done before

Sonja writes, “Nineteen years ago we received a food dehydrator as a wedding gift. For 19 years my husband wanted to give it to Good Will. Because of creating the best summer list, I finally used it after picking 25 pounds of fresh cherries a couple of weeks ago. Motivated by my success in accomplishing something I had been meaning to do for years, I involved my family in creating their best summer list. We all took turns last night around the dinner table sharing our top 10 on our lists. My kids and husband are into making this our best summer.”

Summer is the time to enjoy the little things. The little things are the big things ….our relationships with ourselves and others. Ask any person on their deathbed what they regret. I guarantee it was not that they should have bought more stuff. It will be about relationships and lost opportunities of showing people they care about them. You can create your happiness today. Slow down the speed of life and with the people you love most and savor your life today. Better get busy.

I would love to hear what is on your Best Summer list. All readers will be entered into a prize drawing for a $10.00 Starbucks gift card.

*Fred B. Bryant and Joseph Veroff of Loyola University in Chicago are the founders of the field of savoring.