sweet days of summer

The piece I had intended to write was totally derailed by Ted Lasso.

No spoiler alert here, but the grand finale of the three-season show that became popular during COVID totally got me. I cheered and I cried - two expressions that come easily to me, much to my children’s irritation. 

Intellectually, I know that Ted Lasso and the other cast members are made-for-TV characters, but over the course of the three seasons, these characters became real to me, and in the finale, the lives of these real characters were wrapped up in a red, shiny bow with no loose ends - just the way I like it.

I am a sucker for happy endings, good over evil, redemption, underdog victories, boy gets girl…you get the picture. The more hoke, the better - and there was a lot of hoke!

But I was weeks late to Ted’s swan song: the last episode aired on May 31st.

So, I considered the importance of savoring - taking the time to really enjoy the close of the show and the long farewell and, in the larger context, savoring summer.

And since it is still June (at the time of this writing), we have time to do just that. 

Savor it, that is – as in long mornings on the back porch, fresh vegetables from the garden, leisurely walks at Tod’s Point, staying up later for little ones, and time away from the office for travel and rest.

Now, originally, I wanted to write about summer and how quickly it goes by. 

Some say that by July 4th, we are halfway through summer. And after the solstice - the longest day of the year and the official start of summer - nights begin to get longer while days get shorter. In the blink of an eye, summer will be over.

That was my opening. Kind of depressing, right?

But then I considered the blink.

Blinking is actually quite beneficial. The very act is necessary – it cleans the surface of your eye of any debris and washes it out with fresh tears. The coating of tears helps sharpen your vision, clearing and brightening the image your retina receives.

And summer is a time to sharpen our vision, to see more clearly. To sand the hard edges of our lives and massage the knots…and have a little more time to do all of that.

So, this piece has landed somewhere between savoring and blinking. 

And summer 2023…you are giving me both. 

A few weeks ago, I had a good long walk down memory lane at my high school 40th reunion. 

My memory had faded with time, and I found myself experiencing both my school and many of my classmates with brand new eyes. We had returned to campus not as the awkward adolescents we once were (I speak for myself here), but as adults with a greater understanding of who we are and an acceptance that comes with the passage of time. 

And although the weekend was over in the blink of an eye, I am savoring the connections I made with classmates - really cool people doing really cool things, who may or may not have been really cool in high school. And I can see and appreciate a little more clearly my place in the awesome Class of ’83.

Then this past weekend, we attended the wedding of one of our son’s best friends. 

Again, I cheered and I cried. There is something insanely emotional about witnessing a young man (and his lovely bride) make such an incredible commitment; the love and joy were palpable in every detail of the ceremony and in every aspect of the loud and spirit-filled celebration that followed.

We had watched this young man grow up - blink - and now here we were, savoring the gratitude that we felt for the deep friendships that had developed among the players and our son on many athletic fields over the course of many years, as well as the community that had developed on the sidelines amongst the parents. 

I imagined the Sunday morning cleanup – the candles expunged, the flowers gathered, empty glasses collected and cleaned, and every last remnant of the beautiful evening put away. And yet the feelings will linger, to be savored always, and what a comfort it is to have had the opportunity firsthand to see clearly the power and impact of friendship and love (the more hoke, the better).

So yes, the days will get shorter, and in that blink we will be greeting the chillier, busier days of September. 

But unlike Ted Lasso, life will continue, and there will be another season. Hopefully full of those moments that make us cheer and cry, and that give us something to savor long after it is all over.

Summer 2023 - Let’s Go!