Summer never feels like enough summer. It doesn’t help that August is busy. It is good to be busy as we need the money, but at the same time I would like more beach days and trips to Busch Gardens, and we still haven’t gotten to the aquarium or zoo or botanical gardens. Summer always goes too fast and with the boys and soon Abigail in school it will go even faster.
Part of the problem this year was weather. June was cold until it wasn’t and then it was too hot. I’m not kidding. The weather went from freezing cold one week to an out of control heat wave the next. The oddest part was that when it all broke in July the ocean water was the warmest I have felt in years. We’ve got to get back there.
I know what you’re thinking. Why don’t you just go? And I should. I should just go by myself to the beach. It would be nice and relaxing and I would get to swim unbothered in the ocean, but there are also things like beach hazard warnings and today happens to be one. Summer might be a time for relaxing but it is also a time when the weather doesn’t always cooperate.
We have to plan these next few weeks out. The boys start school on August 25th. That gives us 21 days to get back to Busch Gardens, the beach, and to finally make it to the aquarium, zoo, and botanical gardens.
With each passing summer I come to realize how short life is. I am 44 and I look at it and think about it and I maybe have 10 to 12 good summers left in me. My knees already ache, my wrist joint is failing, I’m on heart medication already. Eventually the body will wear down to a point that activities are no longer enjoyable. I plan to live a good long time after all my summer glories have faded, but they’re fading and it won’t be long until I can’t even handle half a day at Busch Gardens.
The good thing about Busch Gardens is they are open until 10:00 PM in the summer. We have no intention of staying that late, but it means it can be an afternoon trip. It doesn’t have to simply be a morning excursion. In fact I have noticed it is far easier to go if you don’t get there right at opening. It somewhat goes against my nature, but it all works out in the end.
Approaching the end is always a sad place to be, and watching the days grow shorter and the back to school sales unfold signals another summer coming to an end.
David Huzzard Writes 