I woke up a few weeks ago and it was the first day of June and I swear only yesterday it was March of 2020. One of the biggest things on my mind lately is time—how fast it goes, how badly I wish I could hold on to moments, and what I can do to savor every drop of life as it passes.

When I was eighteen, I scribbled down a bucket list for life—the things I wanted to do and be and create. I tucked it in my wallet and didn’t look at it again until I moved into an apartment a decade later. The list was not only revealing in the sense that I could see myself at eighteen again with a new kind of tenderness that wasn’t available to me at the time, but also because I had actually knocked a couple of big items off the list. 

Like many of you, quarantine shifted something in me in a way that brought so much back to center, and with all the pruning and changing and evolving, stepping out this summer has felt monumental in the same way it felt to walk onto campus when I was eighteen. Now at age thirty-seven (almost twenty years later), I realize bucket lists aren’t only for people with all the time in the world, who have nothing but possibilities ahead of them. They’re made for prioritizing what is most important to you so when life happens, you don’t lose yourself in the process. 

Bucket lists aren’t only for people with all the time in the world, who have nothing but possibilities ahead of them. They’re made for prioritizing what is most important to you so when life happens, you don’t lose yourself in the process. 

Here’s what’s on my bucket list for this summer. It illustrates that the joys of summer never leave us unless we ignore them. 

Here’s my 2021 summer bucket list…

1. Find my go-to summer wine
2. Create a summer cocktail
3. Learn to grill like a pro
4. Get the kids in a pool!
5. Get myself in the pool!
6. Wear a bathing suit without worrying about my stomach
7. Host a ton of dinner parties—the impromptu, thrown-together kind!
8. Swim in a lake
9. Catch fireflies with the kids
10. Camp in the backyard with the kids
11. Make floral arrangements from backyard foliage and flowers
12. Make a pie out of fruit
13. Make ice cream
14. Make popsicles
15. Successfully grow grass for the first time ever
16. Lie in said grass during a rain shower with the kids
17. Catch raindrops in our mouths
18. Meditate outside in the morning
19. Wear cute hats and sunscreen every day
20. Write one or two sentences each day about what we did and how we felt
21. Plan an epic fifth birthday party for August (my son)
22. Ride my bike
23. Create an “always ready” picnic basket for impromptu picnics
24. Host a tea party for Bennett
25. Plant flower boxes

I’ll add to this list and check things off as I go, and whatever we don’t get to this summer will stick around for the next one. Here’s to making the most of this new appreciation for the season. 

Kate Arends

Kate is the founder of Wit & Delight. She is currently learning how to play tennis and is forever testing the boundaries of her creative muscle. Follow her on Instagram at @witanddelight_.