We had big plans for this summer. 

As a Type A, list-making, laminating-obsessed goal setter, I’d asked each superhero to set at least one personal goal for the season, and then I’d printed out our family’s list, laminated it and posted it to the fridge, where each day, we could remember just what we wanted to complete before the summer of 2018 ended. 

I love hard goals. They give me direction when this easily-distracted girl wants to pursue 50 things at all times. And I love that they give our boys something to work toward. Something to focus on.

Other than Lego ships and light saber fights.

I’d learned through many summers of failure to set just a few big goals for myself instead of 5,431 smaller ones I would never complete and would cry in the corner about not crossing off my list by Labor Day. And this summer, I thought, was the summer I would actually tackle those things that had been on my list for years.

To run daily. 

To complete four summer reading books. (And not the kind with pictures of Mickey Mouse and dinosaurs on the front.)  

To cherish and make the most of family time. 

Simple, fun, easy goals. 

And although my body and book-lover’s mind could use a bit more TLC, for the first time, I have no regrets about abandoning them for the most important thing I got to enjoy this summer.

This team. <3