Summer

Unlike most people, my year revolves around the school year, not the calendar year. I don’t plan things from January through December. I plan from August to July. I find myself coming very quickly upon the end of the year. This year it seems to have gone quicker than most. Having only 7 weeks off for the summer this year has made it seem even shorter.

I’m not complaining. While I don’t get paid for the majority of those 7 weeks, I realize I am lucky to be able to have that time off. I have the flexibility of working when I want during those weeks, and have been able to streamline things to a point where I now only have to work about 4 hours a week on average.

As the summer comes to a close, I find myself remembering many wonderful summers over the years. As a child every summer held a trip to the farm, all by myself.  A few years, I caught the bus in downtown Wichita and rode it to Pratt, where grandma would pick me up. Never in a million years could you do that now! One summer, I think it was the one after 4^th grade, my friend Allison got to come with me. We had a great time riding the lawn mower all over the yard. We made street signs and placed them strategically in the large farm yard. A week may have been a little long, as I also remember some fussing as well.

One of the best summers I recall, was several years ago when the children were small. We bought a trial membership at one of the private pools. Several of the kid’s friends, as well as mine also belonged. We went swimming almost every afternoon. Sometimes Roger would join us after work. I would bring dinner and we would spend the evening swimming.

Now I find that summers will be changing again. This year only one of our kids went on vacation with us. Next week I will spend several days with just my mom and aunt, traveling along the shores of Lake Superior in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

My summers may be evolving, but they still evoke the same feelings they did when I was a child. I think the senses come alive with the heat of a hot summer day, the smell of a cool swimming pool, or the taste of rich, homemade ice cream. The excitement of summer will never go away.