ESSAYS | My Summer Staycation

My Summer Staycation: a summer at home in the studio

I have always wanted to stay home during the summer but I always seem to find a million other things to do: visit friends, travel, see family, take day trips, hike, bike, take workshops, you name it, I found it. This summer my husband got a new job which landed us at home for the three months that I have off. It was the best gift he and his job could have given me. 

I am a high school photography teacher. I love my job! But like most teachers will tell you, they need the summer. Teaching students, whatever age, can be tough – especially for more introverted folks like myself. I love people and I love my students but I recharge in silence (or at least in more quiet and removed areas!) There isn’t much of that during the school day/year. 

So when John and I sat down to talk about our summer “plans” we decided to “staycate” – I wanted to develop a studio routine, he wanted to be able to acclimate to his new job without much else in the way. Besides my studio routine and drinking coffee slowly in the morning, I wanted to walk to yoga. That was my only other summer goal. So I started. My daily routine consisted of getting up around 7am (dreamy to a school teacher!) and doing a few things around the house before heading off to yoga around 9am. When I returned I was ready and focused for the day. I’d usually say hello to our sweet animals and then head upstairs to the 3rd floor, Home to my studio. I typically worked until 4/5pm when I would then take Tallie for a walk and get ready for John’s arrival home.

Routine is a funny thing. It is both wonderful and suffocating. But the more I stuck with it, the more I realized that I was getting way more accomplished then ever before. I knew what to expect. There wasn’t as much room in my day for all of the “what-if’s” or “when’s???” I knew that I’d be back up to the studio each day for several hours.

Our summer wasn’t flashy. I don’t have a lot of photographs from our time. But I have a grounded sense of purpose in this small business. I needed this summer to stand firm on the ground and digest this small business I started in February. 

I am so grateful for the time, the summer air, the slower pace and all of the ideas that were born out of the time to reflect.

Cheers! Sarah