Summer, Slow Down!

Summer vacation has just begun, but by looking at the calendar I see that it is one fourth over already as well. For those of us who teach, summer is a vital time to recharge our mental and physical batteries. Teaching kids, as enjoyable as it is, is both mentally and physically draining. We teachers need the summer to make sure we are ready for the ten-month long school year. And the summer seems to go way too fast.

Cara and I have already spent a week at Camp, the family camp on Center Pond where we love to go to relax, swim, kayak, read, and enjoy each other's company without the day-to-day chores of being at home. We are now readying ourselves for a 2-day yard sale, this Saturday and Sunday. Our dining room, living room and kitchen are loaded with tons of . . . stuff. Hopefully we can get rid of most of it, while at the same time make some money that we hope to put away for a possible trip to Florida next winter or spring. We still have not gotten anywhere on our new deck, which we thought would be done by now. Our carpenter/friend hopes to start next week. Cara's mom is coming for a visit next week and it will be nice having her here. Seth was home for a brief visit this week. We have the annual family reunion in just over a week. The following week I will be at a 3-day conference for school (so much for vacation). Cara and I hope to get back to Camp somewhere in there. The second week of August we will spend with my family at a camp we are renting on a small lake in the southern part of Maine. Cara hopes to get to her Mom's somewhere after that, before she starts back to school a week early this year (due to needing to get out early next spring in order to move her school to her new school before her old school is demolished). Whew! I can tell that this summer, as fast as it is going, may just fly by even faster. Let's hope not.