Last day of school….let those words sink in, think about them and what it means. Say it out loud…last day of school. Even to adults those 4 words bring back powerful memories. At the end of every school year I hear those 4 words and I get a little bit jealous, I think about the absolute joy the last day of school brings to kids, perhaps only Christmas morning brings more joy and excitement.
I hear those words and I dream for a few minutes how wonderful it would be to have the summer off, to sleep in if you wanted to, or to rise early if that was your way. To have no plans and still have a day filled that left you wishing there was more time. To spend hours with friends not because you’re in the same class or school, but because you want to be with them, to do stuff or do nothing at all, and quite frankly either option is fine. So for a few minutes I’ll dream of that summer vacation and make summer plans.
I want to ride my bike for miles and miles and miles until my legs burn, and only then will I turn around and head home knowing it’s going to be a long slog back. I want to find a trail I’ve never been on, and ride or run it hoping it takes me somewhere I’ve never been but nowhere in particular, and then back to where I started again. I want to enter a local 5k race that starts early on a Saturday morning and run like I used to with joy and happiness not worried about how I’ll feel next day.
I want to kayak in the river and swim in the lake maybe on the same day. I want to stick my hand into a cooler filled with ice and find a bottle of beer on the bottom that’s so cold and refreshing that I drink it down in 3 long gulps. I want to lay in my hammock on a hot summers day and read a book until it falls out of my hands because I have fallen asleep. I want to have bonfires in our backyard as day turns to night and roast marshmallows and make s’mores. I don’t really even like s’mores but a lot of people do and I like to watch other people eat them as they get all gooey and sticky.
I want to walk along a beach and watch the waves make my footprints disappear behind me, erasing my presence seconds after I was there. While I’m at the beach I’ll sit in the sand, bury my feet and wait until the stars come out and then I’ll lay back and just be there.
I want to see fireworks in all their glory light up the sky and watch the wonder and amazement in the eyes of little kids.
I want to sit on my deck, and watch the fireflies come out blinking here and there like little lighthouses of the bug world. While I’m sitting there I’ll watch the bats come swooping around the yard, fluttering wildly from the front yard to the back chasing and (I hope) eating thousands of mosquitoes.
I want to attend a minor league baseball game with my son, a game where I don’t care who wins or loses and I don’t know any of the players, I just want to watch baseball on a warm summers night played by guys who just love the game. Speaking of baseball, I want to fall asleep with my phone, used to be a transistor radio, under my pillow listening to a game from the west coast, a far away destination like Los Angeles or Seattle and listen to the radio announcer describe the action as I drift off to sleep.
I want to eat ice cream, perhaps every day, although I shouldn’t and try to find a place that makes sundaes in little baseball batting helmets, and then I’ll take the helmet home and wash it out and add it to my collection.
On the longest day of the year, the summer solstice, I’ve always wanted to see the sun rise over the lake on the east side of our state, Michigan, and then later drive over to the west side of the state and watch it set into another lake that night. A perfect beginning and end.
Thought for the day…..some pursue happiness, others create it
John's Blog 