Ten Minute Missive

Yesterday was the first day of summer break for my kids and I. I include myself in that because with the first day of summer break I can leave my alarm clock silenced for almost every day of the week. In reality, I get up at the same time year-round due to the furry alarm clocks living in my house, but there is something nice about being able to not set an alarm.

And I think that is the precise reason so many of us look forward to whatever breaks there be in our typical schedule. Perhaps those breaks come only twice a week, or on vacation days taken from work. Those breaks from the typical that make us number days on the calendar and give us something to look forward to…and in this case, summer.

Summer is not my favorite season. Fall is, hands down. But there is something so wonderful about summer’s potential that I almost love it, like that pair of too-small jeans you never wear but cannot bear to part with.

Summer is the season of expectation, the season of potential.

It is the time of making plans to spend time with the friends and family you enjoy but don’t spend enough time with, a time of going on long walks and enjoying sunsets. Summer is a time of trips to the beach or mountains or the city…whichever locale is not your typical.

And summer is the season of listening to the crickets at dusk, the birds at dawn, the drip of the sprinkler in the afternoon.

I have ten weeks and six days of summer break. It will go by in a sunscreen scented rush. It will be punctuated with sweaty-boy hugs and wet-haired-girl snuggles. It will have hours spent in the pool, hours on bicycles, hours of too late bedtimes and too early mornings when we all stumble about in sleeping shorts and tank tops until our eyelids remember how to lift. Gallons of lemonade, pounds of S’Mores roasted over a fire, and dozens of brats on the grill, sun warmed tomatoes fresh from the vine, walks to the ice cream shop on Main Street.

Ten weeks and six days. The best days of summer. The best days to make memories. The potential to have the best summer ever.

Let the days of summer begin.