Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

Good morning. This is Laura.

Welcome to the Before Breakfast Podcast.

Today's tip is to go watch the Fireflies.

Even if you are feeling behind or busy,

taking a few minutes to relax and enjoy the world

probably won't make the situation worse.

And it might make it better.

This is my first summer in our new house,

and every night in July, the yard just came alive with Fireflies.

We never had quite that many in the old place,

so it's like a marvelous little light show.

July was also a very challenging month in other ways.

We were relying on backup child care arrangements,

and I wound up doing a lot more camp driving than I had planned on,

taking an hour out of my already shortened work days,

most mornings, and afternoons.

The time needed to get made up somewhere,

and so I'd try to get scraps of work time, wherever I could.

But one night while I was pecking away at stuff

while my two-year-old was watching Peppa Pig videos,

I realized I was probably not going to make much progress

...