The Summer We Put the Atlas in the Front Seat

Have you ever noticed the moment on a trip or a drive where the landscape shifts and your body can feel it? The busy city falling away gradually and suddenly there is nothing but something older, wider and completely indifferent to your everyday. 

So far we have made two drives this summer, the first to Monument Valley and the other to Crested Butte, Colorado. Different directions, different landscapes, different light, but both with the same gift of someplace unfamiliar. In Colorado the dramatic red rocks we saw in Monument Valley gave way to green so saturated it looked like a painting. The altitude high, hundreds of cows and horses, car games and DVD’s made for such an incredible road trip experience. On the road we committed to using an atlas instead of GPS, which allowed for us to slow down, plan and study routes and get to see things we may not have if we used the routes on google maps. 

Changing your environment is one of the most underrated things you can do for yourself and for your children. We made a quiet decision at the start of this summer to slow down, return to analog methods and use more physical media. Getting away from so many screens and overstimulating material did more for our family than we ever could have expected. 

For weeks this summer I scoured facebook marketplace and finally found a TV VCR combo on Facebook Marketplace. The kind with the built in DVD and VHS player, the chunky buttons and the satisfying mechanical click when the tapes load. What surprised me most was how nostalgic everything became, and how much more calm my children became because of it. The picture is softer, the colors are warmer and the tape has weight and history. My children sat still in a way I had forgotten was possible and watched classic films which were the movies I grew up with that I had not seen in years. Seeing these movies watched through their eyes for the first time unlocked a core memory in motherhood for me. It became one of the unexpected blessings of our summer.

The bookstores this summer have also been some of our best hours.

We absolutely love the experience of being in a room full of books. My daughter completed the Barnes and Noble summer reading challenge twice which was incredible. Every time we would head to the bookstore to get a sticker on her log, the memories made and time spent scouring the shelves and seeing so much joy in both of my children’s eyes when they found a book they loved was incredible. We have read more this summer than any summer I can remember. Not because we scheduled it or made it a goal necessarily, but because when we slow down, reading fills the space naturally. 

To be honest about what this summer has not been.

It has not been perfect. There have been some screens and scrolling and moments where I reached for the phone before I even knew I was doing it, and swapping the GPS for the atlas was fun but challenging.

But in between all of that, in the spaces that opened up when the usual options were not available something else grew such as longer conversations and learning new things. 

We may not remember every detail of this summer, but I believe we will carry the feeling of it and remember the sense of peace and presence rather than routine and rushing. That is what an analog summer has meant to us, and its something we will absolutely choose over and over again.

At Corduroy Farm we make clothing for the childhood we believe in. Slow, considered, and built to last. This summer reminded us why that matters and how the things worth keeping are never the things that move fastest.

Let this be a reminder to put the atlas in the front seat, find a VCR at the thrift store and walk to the bookstore with no list. See what grows in the space you make.