by Nancy Casey
When a cold wet spring rides into town on the heels of a long snowy winter, the whole idea of summer can seem really far away.
Imagine summer for a moment. How air on your skin can make you warm instead of making you shiver. The long evenings with heat radiating up from the sidewalk. People’s yards, bursting with shrubbery and flowers.
Once the summer is actually upon us, plans, obligations and routines put limitations on our time and energy. While the season is still mostly imaginary, anything can happen. Or might.
Today, write about what the summer might bring. Begin with the phrase, “Summer might bring _______.” Write about some of the different things that could happen this summer. If you feel stuck, write out the phrase, “Summer might bring ______.” That might bring you an idea. You can also draw or doodle on the page and wait for ideas to come to you that way.
The nice thing about the word “might” is that it allows you to think freely and gently about the future.
You might already have some plans, perhaps a lot of them. Plans can go awry. Life is always intervening in one thing or another. If you use the word “might” when you write about your plans, you’ll put a little less pressure on your future self.
If you use the word “might” to write about all your hopes and dreams and aspirations, you don’t have to worry about being greedy and putting in too many. You can ignore the reality that every possible good thing that can happen to you isn’t going to fit in one summer. Even though lot of them might.
The word “might” also comes in handy for discussing miracles. Are there things that one part of your mind says are impossible, while another part of you thinks they would be a good idea anyway? They might happen.
Another thing you can do with the word “might” is worry. When you start to think about what might happen, your mind doesn’t limit itself to events that are joyous. Dreadful things can float into the imagination, too. Fortunately the word “might” always walks with its friend “might not.” When you reread the page, you can squeeze in the word “not” anyplace you like.
Launch yourself into the summer in your writing today. All of its ups and downs, thrills and challenges.
What might the summer bring? More than you can imagine.
When you have filled a page, give your work a title. Make sure the date is on it somewhere, too. Add further decoration and color to the page as needed. Here is an example of what a person could write.
You can share what you have written by posting it as a comment below. You can type in your work. Or post a picture of it.
Nancy Casey has lived in Latah County for many years. You can find more of her work here. She offers (free!) writing help to anyone in recovery. This can be for any kind of writing project—resumes, letters, stories, novels, homework, etc. She will be offering writing classes at the Recovery Center starting the second week in May. Email latahrecoverycenter@gmail.com for more information.
Latah Recovery Community Center, Inc. 