Yay it’s September! For real, August has always been such a shit of a month. Like historically complete crap. Which is weird since I love the summer, but maybe by the time the end of August hits, the thrill of fresh peaches and ripe avocados starts to fade, everything feels a little too dried out. Too parched. Branches too withered to provide shade. I grew up in the Sacramento valley. A place where 100 degree summer days are common and the heat doesn’t break at night. The scent of baking asphalt slips in between the sheets with you as the open windows do their best to welcome in a breeze. Heat. Index. That’s all I can say.

September brings the promise of aloe on sun drenched skin. I feel myself exhaling a little longer in September, though it’s still hot. We’re still swimming in lakes and jumping off rope swings and planning adventures. Adventures… this month has three travel adventures in store for me. I’m beyond pleased to be presenting at both Symbiosis and CatalystCon, then the new organization I’m working for is having a beachside work retreat. Symbiosis being on the full moon of the autumnal equinox… sooooo perfect. Swim all day, dance all night, all while making intentional community. Why, yes please. And CatalystCon means I get some face to face time with all the folks who fill my social media with juicy bits of advocacy and education. Yes. All yes.

It’s been over a year since I graduated… let me tell you that was one Hell of a postpartum experience. I’ve never been so glad to have a year behind me. I feel like I should skip ahead a year in age. Just start saying I’m 36 now because that felt like two trips around the sun instead of one. And yet, all that struggle has developed into something amazing. I kept working. I kept writing. I kept running around that lake.

So the title of this post is “Webs and Ripples and Loves” because everything that keeps me going tends to come in plural form. I have kids. I have families. I have friends. I have loves. And I am fit to burst, like a warm August peach, with gratitude and appreciation for the webs that hold me. For the ripples that reach me. For the loves that blow digital kisses and sweat around the lake with me. Everything I am working on now comes from a loving connection. Everything. All the adventures with all the loves. September is going to be so sweet.