My youngest children are having a horrible summer.
Yes, it’s only May, but what do you expect of a state that is 49th in per-pupil spending, a full school year? Their review of their first week of Summer Break 2026 was “we never have any fun and we wish we were back at school!”
It’s a fair assessment, because I took them to an expensive trampoline park, ferried them to play dates and pool parties and subjected them to heinous things like donuts for breakfast and ice cream for snacks.
Summer happens every year, when millions of children are are freed from the drudgery of a consistent routine and released into the capable hands of organized parents who have scheduled camps and enrichment activities and wonder, parents who spent their summers running feral through the streets or catfishing old men in AOL chatrooms.
But I was blindsided by Summer Break. My husband, a devoted Stay At Home Dad for seven years, has returned to the office and I thought, hey, I work for myself, surely I can handle a summer with our darling children, I’ll rework my schedule and it will all work out just fine. I can unload a dishwasher! I can do a load of laundry! Anything you can do, I can do better and yes, parenting and marriage are a competition!
Well.
A short week — four days! — made it clear that Summer Break was going to break me, a sentiment I relayed to my own mother on a particularly difficult night.
Nora, she said, it’s not even Summer. At least not meteorologically speaking.
I briefly considered the merits of elder abuse, but what she meant to say — and where we eventually landed — was that the bar must and will be lowered, which I believe is fair for other people but not for me, a person who must do everything and do it right.
I named it the Summer of Surrender, and swore to loosen my grip and lower my expectations. Nothing is that serious, I’m a podcaster and a writer!!
But yesterday I logged onto this godforsaken website for our monthly Office Hours subscriber livestream, and it…did not go well. The livestream function didn’t work, and I tried many, many times, and even though the only thing I saw on my end was an error message, every failed attempt alerted paid subscribers of my efforts.
How did I handle it? I’ll let the AI-generated clips from Substack tell you!
THE SUMMER OF SURRENDER DEMANDS THAT YOU SURRENDER.
It demands that you bend to its will, that you accept that you and your plans are not the center of the universe. It says, shut up, you crazy moron, you will not get everything done. You will not meet every deadline. You may never remember to move the towels from the washer to the dryer, even when the washing machine sings its little song.
And if you forget that you are not on this Earth to answer emails and tap at a computer and meet your made-up deadlines at a made-up job in a made-up world, the Summer will whisper it's loving threat into your ear while it ruins your plans:
SURRENDER.
🥤Cann is my forever favorite THC/CBD bev. Squeeze a Roadie into a glass of sparkling water, and 10-15 minutes later you’re feeling goooood. Code NORA20 works sitewide!
🥤 I’ve been using the new Clvr Blends Deep Calm Magnesium for a little nightcap. The magnesium bisglycinate, ashwagandha, glycine, lemon balm, tart cherry, l-theanine and chamomile help me relax and de-stress (and build stress tolerance, which I definitely do not have!!!. (the Golden Lattes are also amazing). SHOPNORA gets you 15% off!
🛍️ Everything is 40-60% off at J.Crew Factory right now. I picked up two summer dresses and what Kate Kennedy and Caroline Moss call a Cater Waiter vest (I have wanted one FOREVER!)
❤️ The Ruggable sale is over, but code NORA15 still works sitewide (great news for maximalists!)
Come see me!
You can join me for a Bad Vibes Only book club with the Society of Working Moms on June 14th!
I looooove speaking about mental health, grief and other hilarious topics. You can email bkane@apbspeakers.org if you want to bring me to your event or organization.