Today is July 24 if I managed tech correctly. It is past the summer solstice and hours of light are imperceptible shorter, and school is reopening and a fall routine will resume. The time has come for someone to ask the dreaded question. “What did you do this summer?” Now is the confess up time after the May/June question, “What are your plans for the summer?” Does anyone ever answer with a clear conscience, “Maybe visit relatives, sit by the pool, eat watermelon, see what turns up.”
No. Plans are laid out. Boys playing Little League are committed as long as winning occurs. The girl has an art group meeting at the community center. Dad already has a family trip mapped out to drive to three national parks. Neighbors are organizing the annual 4th of July bar-b-que. No one seems to have heard of lazy summer days and Saturday has no special significance when it is just one more day and not an off day.
Just having time off counts. One summer I read Gone with the Wind sprawled on a sleeping porch bed cooled by an oscillating fan. As the mother in charge, I and three children rode bikes after afternoon rests down to the Shamrock swimming pool. A summer membership was cheaper than building and maintaining our own. Another friend and I did half day local field trips: Mrs. Baird’s Bakery and the Coke Company, treats provided. The most exciting happening was riding out hurricanes – always the unknown.
There is no correct answer. A mixture is really nice We all like a treat to look forward to and a quiet time to remember what that meant for the moment. Sometimes plans change: dramatically or just rethought. Ecclesiastes 3 covers both sides of several options, yet I want to land on another verse. I’m glad we get to plan while also welcoming that God can be in charge of the summer. May the answer to your question be, “It all worked out just right!”
Many are the plans in a person’s heart,
but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.
Proverbs 19:21
Let Me Tell Ya 