Awake

The memoir includes an extract from Rachel Cargle’s Instagram post on gifting herself “a soft, sweet, succulent” summer (208). Cargle vows to rest, heal, and only accept invitations that excite her.

When the school holidays arrived, Hatmaker booked Remy into a Maine summer camp and assured her daughter that she would stay nearby. In her first experience of vacationing alone, the author rented a renovated convent in Bar Harbor. Naming the experience “Me Camp,” she followed her impulses, hiking, reading, eating alone, and sometimes accepting impromptu social invitations from strangers.

While in Bar Harbor, Hatmaker went on a date with a man she met at the airport. The experience was fun, and they ended up kissing.