Summer is here. And I have a love-hate relationship with it. Hate is probably too strong of a word for the way I use it here, but for the sake of the what I mean here, I will use it.
The older I get the more I enjoy the warmer temperatures. I prefer the sun shining each day. That sun gets me up and moving in the mornings unlike the dreary, gray skies we get most of the winter.
3 reasons why I love summer
1. Routine change
My routine shifts a bit. I can sleep in, but not for long. Between the alarm I set and one of my fur babies, I rarely get to sleep much past 6:30 a.m.
That’s okay, though. I need to get up and get moving.
But at the same time, I don’t have to be in bed by 10 p.m. so that I can get up early for a substitute job. I can stay up until 11 p.m. if I want.
2. One less job
I only work at a part-time job outside the house in the afternoons in the summer, leaving me the mornings to either work my freelance job or find another freelance job.
I can also work my Nerium and Thirty-One businesses, too.
3. The weather
I cannot say this enough. The sunshine and warmer temperatures make me love summer. Some people don’t agree with me because they don’t like the heat, but I would much rather have the heat and the sun than gray skies, cold, and that disliked word, snow.
I could easily sit outside, reading a book and soaking up as much of the sun as I can. Of course, I would wear sun screen to keep from getting skin cancer.
3 reasons why I dislike summer
1. The pool
Two years ago, after my daughter moved out, I made the tough decision to get rid of our pool.
I felt like I was getting rid of a member of the family. That pool was here when I bought the house in 2005 and was a part of us.
For the nine of those 10 years, I got the pool ready, kept up the maintenance, and closed it up every summer but one. One year we had a hole in the liner, and I couldn’t afford to replace it so the pool sat useless.
I am sad seeing pictures on Facebook of parents with their kids having a good time. I remember those days with my own kids. We had so much fun with our pool. I wish I could have those times back.
2. Baseball
Three years ago my son’s baseball team won the senior boys division in our local Little League. He wasn’t there since he was with his dad for the first part of summer break, but I was there cheering on his team and getting his trophy.
Again, seeing pictures on Facebook of parents cheering on their sons and daughters brings back those memories of my son playing in his first T-ball game through the last game at age 13.
3. Vacation
This time of the year hits me hardest for vacations. From the time the kids and I were out on our own, I have taken them on some kind of vacation every summer.
That is until three years ago. 2013 was the last year we took a vacation as a family of three.
I enjoyed every vacation we ever took — some of them more than others. Our Myrtle Beach trip in 2010 was one of the most memorable, especially when my daughter said, “Mommy, this was the best vacation ever,” on the way home. That will stay with me forever.
Our last trip to Ormond Beach, Florida, was the most relaxing one we had ever taken. My daughter and I sat on the beach almost every day for a few hours each day. I read a book while we both sat under an umbrella and watched the people.
Unfortunately, family vacations will never be like this again.
I know you want to ask me why I am on Facebook if I am sad looking at the pictures. As much as I would like to stay off of Facebook, I can’t.
I do too much on there with my businesses. I have friends from various aspects of my life that I communicate with.
So this love-hate relationship I have with summer puts me in a tough situation on Facebook. For now I’ll let the memories take me to happier times and wish those who are creating happy memories all the best.