Things I Love About Summer: Part 1

Fifteen years ago, I dropped 4 very short posts about things I love about summer.  You can see the first one here in August of 2010.  See?  I mentioned, they are very short.  

I have been inspired again to revisit and reflect on things I love about summer.  The summer months are quite meaningful to me largely because I work in education and have these months off from the day-to-day of being with students.  I still work, but it is a completely different environment when the students aren't there and my schedule is much more flexible.  But, I recall before I went in to education, the summer months were still notable.  The long days of sunlight and warm to hot weather definitely create a Jimmy Buffet "changes in latitude, changes in attitude" sort of feel.  

Here I plan to share some of my favorite things about summer.  I hope it inspires you to stop and smell the roses of summer wherever you are.  Feel free to share your thoughts and experiences in the comments right here on Seeking Positivity in the Galaxy.  

To begin, one thing I love about summer are the gatherings of friends outdoors.  Just the other night here in late May, my family and I went to an annual gathering at a good friend's house to watch fireworks that are held during our town festival.  We gather in the driveway for drinks and snacks where we visit and catch up on things like how the high school softball team qualified for the sectional championships earlier that day, and how we all enjoyed or didn't enjoy the newest summer movie releases.  We join in the annual harassment of how the Cubs or Cardinals are great or terrible or in an intense race for first place early in the season.  It is always a good time to catch up. 

Then as the sun decides to retire around 9:00 pm, we all make it to our seats on the driveway for the annual fireworks show.  It isn't the greatest show on Earth, but it is our show in our small Midwest town.  It is just fine, because it isn't about the greatness of the fireworks themselves, but it is about the friendships and sharing this experience every summer.   For that, it is one of the things that I love about summer!