The Jar of Fun

A year ago yesterday, my dad died.  It was the start of what turned out to be, in many ways, a pretty lousy year for me. By the time the ball dropped in Time Square on the final day of 2010, I had also lost a close friend and my job... some losses were more painful than others, but with each of them comes opportunity: the opportunity to focus more on family, to cherish the here and now, to consider a world of possibilities.
  
I was walking through the book section at Target the other day and passed by The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. The book's website says that "The Happiness Project is one of the most thoughtful works on happiness to have emerged from the recent explosion of interest in the subject. Rubin weaves together philosophy, scientific research, history, analysis, and real-life experiences as she explains what worked for her—and what didn’t..."

I almost put it in my shopping cart... almost.

Instead, I decided that there can't be anything in Gretchen's book, no matter how thoughtful or well-researched, that I can't figure out on my own. And so in part, that is what this summer will be about.

I've got to be honest though: While I am excited for summer, I am also a little terrified of it. I absolutely love my children, but the idea of being at home with them all day, every day, for nearly three months is intimidating. I am not sure I am cut out for this stay-at-home mom thing and my respect and admiration for the millions of women who choose this for their families grows every single day.

Even though I am terrified, I've come to see this summer as a gift. I get to spend time with the two most important people in my life all day, every day for the next three months.

To help us all get through it, we've created what we are calling the 'Jar of Fun'. The premise is pretty simple: the kids and I have thought about all the things that we'd like to do this summer that we can drive to in roughly 90 minutes or less. We'll write each place down on a slip of paper and drop it into a jar (hence the 'Jar of Fun'). Then once or twice a week, we'll randomly pull a paper from the jar, pack a bag and go.

Many of the things you'll read here in the next few months will be directly related to the jar.  Where we went. What we saw. How we liked it. It'll be part travel guide and part summer survival guide. And when the summer is over, I'll send two kids off to school with lots of great stories of their summer adventures and we'll all have lots of great memories of our time together... what could be better than that?

I am happy just thinking about it!