In the throes of my third most favorite season…

I used to like summer a lot better. I’m almost sure of it. I would guess that it has something to do with my formative years. Risking the danger of oversimplifying…summer was ingrained into my consciousness as “those three months that I got to go outside and play.”
In those halcyon days it meant school was out. That was the catalyst that would lead to 90 days of unfettered adventure.
For many years after high school graduation the memories of those years were so ingrained into my being that I would experience a heightened sense of euphoria each May in anticipation of June. Unfortunately, June would arrive and I was left with a heightened sense of, “um…I got excited about this?”
I eventually evolved past the giddiness in May and now when June arrives, I’m just left with a heightened sense of the current relative humidity.
If it weren’t for wind chill, summer would be in danger of slipping to my fourth favorite season.
Here are the realities…
Back then…
I was constantly mowing lawns of Russell residents in order to make lots of money to blow at Ike’s Recreation and the Rainbow Café.
Now…
I am constantly mowing lawn.
Back then…
My life revolved around Little League baseball games…win or lose.
Now…
I CAN’T BELIEVE THE TWINS LOST THREE STRAIGHT TO THE MILWAUKEE FREAKING BREWERS!
Back then…
I loved walking the trails in the hills at the Russell Park.
Now…
When I get my car serviced I have to walk to DeBoers to pick it up when it’s done.
Back then…
Clarence and Harlan and I used to spend half of the summer nights sleeping in a tent in our backyard.
Now…
Yeah, that’s not gonna happen.
Back then…
My friends and I would load up the station wagon and go to a double feature at the Starlight Drive-Inn in Marshall.
Now…
I try to stay awake through a double feature of the weather and the sports.
Back then…
I would get to sleep in until 8:00 every morning.
Now…
If I’m not up by 5:45, the cat is checking my vital signs.
Back then…
We would be so busy entertaining ourselves in and around Russell we would sometimes forget to come home for supper.
Now…
Yeah, I have fixed that issue.

So you can understand why summer has lost some of its luster for me. School never gets out anymore.
I still have a couple of bright spots during the summer. I get to spend a few weeks hanging with some of my favorite people at the Opera House; I get to eat some Aebleskivers in July; and there is that whole grilled burger thing.
Oh, and some years my lawn goes dormant in early August.
For the most part though I’m just biding my time until late September when the air turns cool and the leaves turn yellow.
And admittedly, next January when I’m standing at a gas pump with the temp at zero and the wind at about 35, I’ll remember why summer still has a tenuous hold on third place.