Dog Days of Summer

Youth is in a grand flush, like the hot days of ending summer; and pleasant dreams thrall your spirit, like the smoky atmosphere that bathes the landscape of an August day. - Donald G. Mitchell

Hands down, summer is my favorite season.  My birthday falls at the end of June which, in childhood, limited me from bringing treats to the classroom but gave great bliss from three school free months.  Even now, as I spend approximately 40 hours a week craning my neck just to look out the office's windows, summer is still my favorite.  I realize I have not posted anything of concrete substance on this blog in weeks but, frankly, life is full of more important things at the moment.  Specifically, weddings of friends and family, lazy days spent on the lake and utilizing my PTO.

Last week, I went on a family vacation to Gulf Shores, Ala. which I previously referenced here.  Our first family vacation in four years considering we are a tad limited with an 81-year-old Grandma in tote.  "I'm going to Gulf Shores," I told people.  "Nothing extravagant."

But I regress, the best part about the trip is that we didn't really do "anything."  The whole week I left the condo complex twice, once for a heavily stocked Wal-Mart trip and another for a seafood dinner out with the family and a 35 hole mini-golf special.  (Yes, we ripped off Adventure Island and I take the credit.)  Other than that, most of our time was spent rotating between the beach, outdoor pool and indoor pool.  For dinners we grilled and I took pride in actually creating recipes from Real Simple.  (For reference the steak skewers are divine, substitute red peppers and add cooked shrimp.  Do not substitute mint for basil on the melon dessert.)  My brother and I drank Coronas and White Russians on the balcony, Dad and I held spontaneous dance parties, and my only real moments of solitude came from body boarding due to high tide.

After five days, I came to the realization that sometimes I don't need anything extravagant to be happy.  Sometimes I feel stuck in this weird limbo of life.  Am I happy at my job?  Why do people I know from high school and college keep getting engaged or having babies?  Can I go home for the weekend, even though my parents live six hours away?  Why do I spend a mortgage payment in rent?  Then I pushed those thoughts away because, frankly, I was on vacation and there are miles of beach to be walked upon and a Nerf football to toss.

I don't have all the answers and refuse to stress myself out discovering them.  Until they come to premonition I will keep finding happiness in the little things, like consecutive hole-in-ones in Pirate Adventure Mini Golf.