The role of home in the days before summer

In the lead-up to summer, home becomes the place we ready for our absence.

Longer days give us an urgency to leave, to gather, to be out in the world again. There’s little reason to stay indoors when the season of light begins and everything outside is in bloom.

For months, we’ve gathered on the sofa watching films, playing games, sharing meals while the cold kept us in. But soon, that same sofa becomes the spot where a five-minute call sets the day in motion. It’s the spot we won’t return to until the sun has set and there’s a new story to tell. In a wonderful way, our homes become the starting place for all the memories we’re about to make.

So what do we do in the short space between?

We fill every hall, corner, and doorway with signs of the season. No longer needing room to lounge and entertain, we’ll stack baskets and blankets for picnics, or umbrellas and balls for the beach. The useful things get placed within reach, all the items that say we’re ready to be outside —the portable, the washable, the made-for-outdoors.

And while we’re at it, we can tend to what’s broken. Fixing, tossing, replacing as needed. So when the summer is over, we return to something steady—something shaped, in part, by how we left it.

Our homes will be quieter for a time, but they remain a meaningful part of our lives. They help us embrace the call of summer, and welcome us back when it ends.