Idaho Summer Ends with Unfulfilled Plans

I stayed close to home this summer.  A bad ankle sprain took weeks to heal, and the price of gasoline kept me from much of the planned out-of-town travel.  I mostly didn’t mind.  I’ve seen most of what I set out to see across the Mountain West.  I got to bed early and was up long before dawn, averaging a good eight hours of sleep every night.  I reconnected with some old friends and found a few that allowed us to patch up some old quarrels.  Nobody should take old arguments to their deathbed, and as you get older, there’s an urgency.  But there’s also some relaxation.  You don’t give a darn about what people think of your looks, your clothes, or what you believe.  My mom had that approach throughout her life.  My dad was the opposite.  Maybe it explained the domestic combat!

There's Still Much to Finish Before Winter

Summer unofficially ends Labor Day.  September brought mixed feelings when I was a kid.  I was ecstatic when football season came around.  I was depressed in the classroom because I believed I didn’t fulfill all my summer goals.  Times have changed.  Football is fun, but no longer a dominant aspect of my life.  Once you grow up and get a job, every morning when the alarm rings is like the first weeks of school.

Hunker Down and Hibernate for One More Winter

But I still can’t shake my dislike of days with limited sunshine, and the first morning I need to scrape my windshield isn’t on my list of enjoyable activities.  A few weeks ago, an old college girlfriend looked me up online.  We exchanged a few pleasantries, and I included a video from a song released the year we split.  Then after a few days, she drifted from my mind.  Nothing personal, just a different set of goals.  Enjoy the waning days of summer.