What the People Want

When I started this blog (with high hopes), I sent out an e-mail to everyone in my address book who I thought might be interested. Just this week, I received an e-mail from my old buddy Jerry say, in effect, "So, I check your blog all the time (or at least every once in a while). You're totally slack! Where's the new content?!" It's good to know there are still people looking after me and interested in what I'm doing and thinking. Thanks, Jer! You're still mama's little angel.

Topic for today: Summer. Considering it's 79.7 degrees F in my office (I have a clock that tells me that), it's a lot on my mind. In listening to people the last couple of weeks, I've discovered that there are two kinds of people in the world (here it comes): people who loved summer vacation and dreaded going back to school, and people who loathed summer vacation and counted the days until school would start again. I am in the latter category. Even when I'm not in school, my mood plummets during the long doldrums of summer: hot days, people going on vacation, the annual lag of progress and ambition. Not that I'm a crazy type-A. I just need a little action going on around me to get motivated.

I generally detest vacations, particularly the 'lounging around on the beach' kind; they make me feel like there are ants crawling on my skin. My family wasn't big on summer vacations, no camp or cabins or road trips. Living in the tropics meant we were almost always near the beach or swimming pool. What vacations we did take were usually miracles of planning: going to Europe in 1985, for instance, taking cheap MAC flights from one air force base to the next. That was exciting. But long days of nothing to do at home were the norm and hellish.

Ah, but put me on a big yellow bus to sit in a classroom with other kids all day and learn stuff, The smell of freshly sharpened pencils, new textbooks, something to do every moment of the day. New teachers, new classmates, trips to the library. Clubs to join, people to have lunch with.
Heaven.

So, what do people love about summer? Post your comments! I'd love to hear how the other half lives.