Like many of you, I consider summer to be the time between Memorial Day and Labor Day, which means that you’re reading this post a few days before the end. Even though I’m a Florida boy, I love summer. I could do without the humidity – sometimes I feel like I’m living in a swamp on the sun – but I’ll take everything else. The long evenings, baseball, golf, killer thunderstorms every afternoon, and the smiles on all the faces I visit up north. I love it.
Well, I’m typing this post on Friday, August 26 – it’s pretty much the end and I’m reflecting on the last three months. It’s been a good summer. We saw more of the beach than we have in years, we took two mini vacations, and used the heck out of our pool. Since Memorial Day, I’ve been away only nine nights for business, and have used my time in the home office to get balanced and happy – ready to attack the rest of the year. Before doing so, I thought I’d capture some memories from this summer that I believe will stick with me for a long time.
Reflecting on this summer, the first memory that pops into my head is the sound of helicopters flying over my house following the terror attack on Pulse night club in June. I wish it wasn’t, but it is. The memory of watching my daughter sleep away that morning, 0.8 mile from that … I’ve been sitting here trying to find an adjective and can’t … tragedy is tattooed in my mind. I also remember the community coming together unlike I ever would’ve imagined our city of transplants were capable. I remember traveling that week and seeing all the flags at half-mast between Newark and DC. I also remember the compassion – the pure compassion of so many people.
We thought we were going to lose our dog, Tucker, this summer. He was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor in his nose. Fortunately, the tumor was operable and he is perfectly fine today. He doesn’t have a nose, but he’s healthy and happy … and we don’t have to buy him a Halloween costumeJ (Relax, he can’t read this.)
We went to the Hamptons and Nashville this summer. Great times. I think my favorite memory was my three year old daughter waking up at 4:40 am for our flight to Long Island, and smiling because she knew we were going on an airplane. Kids don’t do that – kids start screaming when you wake them up, right? Not our little girl – “we going on airplane?” was all she said.
I had the house to myself one weekend, which was pretty cool. I had some neighbors and buddies over for beers and pizza on Friday night, and got 10 hours of sleep on Saturday. I may be the most boring bachelor since I was a bachelor, but it was awesome… until it wasn’t. After a while, I started to miss my girls.
I got a chance to hang out with some of my best friends this summer, which isn’t as common as it should be. Jimmy, Andy, Shad, Gavin, Jason – I wish it could’ve been more, but hey … we’re dads and almost 50, so I’m grateful for the time we did have this summer.
So many more cool things: our daughter learned to swim (sort of), the Olympics were fantastic, Cleveland finally got a championship and we got a game 7 that we’ll be talking about for decades, Jason Bourne was amazing, and I got a chance to take my mom to dinner a few times … which should also be more frequent but I’m grateful for that.
As sad as I am to see summer end, I’m excited for my favorite time of year. Here’s to the fall, cooler weather in Florida, and the Gators winning the SEC!
