If you do not know, today is the FIRST DAY OF SUMMER!!!

We have now achieved the time when we no longer can dream of what will be (Vacation) , but take action to make the dream a reality! We must commence  the mundane tasks,  paying for the condo, buying plane tickets, renting a car, renting bikes, looking for that consummate  bathing suit, buying that seersucker  jacket with matching pants possibly a bow tie and some “fine” white  leather shoes, appropriate church apparel, beginning the quest for that one special dress for “ladies night out”. The dreams should be fading, and slowly actions need to start!

One thing that I like to do is think about the ebbs and flows of the week, here is my advice: “do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Let the day's own trouble be sufficient for the day”. (there is a real bonus if you can figure out where I got those words) Embrace those words of wisdom, and your vacation “‘Dreams” will become a reality. Let us not fret about little things for example: the long laborious drive, think about it this way: Look at all the time we get to spend “together”, Or after spending all evening packing the truckster, going out at 10:00 and discovering that keeping all the doors open, and the radio on may not have been the most intelligent idea, I could look at it this way, I got a brand new Wal-Mart battery   Or I have to get to the airport at 0 dark 30, find a place to park, get thru security, make it to my gate, will the plane be on time, will I make my connections, will they have a car for me in Charleston, will I be able to pack all of my things in the car, and oh by the way why do I have to pay so much extra for my bags! Cherish the lights of the city as you on your drive to the airport, when you get to the airport, embrace the people, greet them with a smile, shake their hands, ask them their names, be grateful for they have a long day of dealing with unhappy people,  your smile first thing n the morning, may be contagious, and help many people enjoy the day! After all, the worst thing that could happen to you is you miss your flight and they put you on the next flight and you might miss my delicious spaghetti dinner with homemade meatballs (that is if Ash ever gets the dinner list out! )

Now the most important thing… we are there to relax! When we first arrive, you can feel the excitement in the air! Waiting to pick up the condo Key, having a nice bowl of soup, the first glace at the beach. Vacation is here and we have so much to do. Sunday morning we all get up early, walk on the beach, ride the bikes, go to Freshfeild’s, grab some starbucks, get our exercising done, change for the beach, and by 11:00 we are all frolicking In the ocean surf! It can’t get any better,  we are now in mitts of  paradise, embracing everything we dreamed about for the past year: Gator watching, beach time, playing basketball,  bike rides, walking running skipping and hopping, reading books, listing to music, fine dining, great fellowship, Golf, tours of historic places,  I could go on for hours (oh… how could I leave out the Rex!!!).  Then about Wednesday, the pace subsides, as the reality of the time begins to cast it daunting shadow. You are now in the reality of mid week vacation, a place I like to call “the twilight zone”, you are exhausted; dehydrated, sunburned, and just generally soar all over.   The whole sentiment begins to amble, as the reality of time becomes inevitability. We have a tendency to sleep longer “sleep until the sun goes down” (I had to put those lyrics in her for the young ones), do more things independently, experience vacant chairs on the beach, and most of all, we all have a little less bounce in our step. Before you realize it is Friday afternoon, the skies open, the rain compels us to leave the beach; we (Byron) has drag all of our fun back from the beach one last time, and gather for our final dining experience.  Conversation is no longer full of optimism, but making plans for ensuring you have packed everything, movement is now taking the left over memories from the ice box to the dumpster, then making one last heartbroken toast to a wonderful, wondrous, amazing, astonishing, awesome week, then dragging yourself back to your bed, closing your eyes, tossing and turning, and then finally falling asleep. The next morning you awaken, to the sounds of that irritating alarm, instead of the peaceful sounds of birds singing gators (making whatever sound they make) deer prancing thru the wood, and most of all the calming sound of the ocean calling you to another blissful day at the beach. Oh well the dream for this year was realized and now we can start dreaming for next year.

In order to complete this story, we have to determine the cause of this bizarre behavior. Given all of the empirical data, I have narrowed the root cause down to a couple of things: First, It takes several days for us to relax, 2^nd,   instead of thoughts such as breaking waves the ever present relaxing sounds they harness, it is now ever so ever gently being crushed out of our heads and being replace with reality( almost time to go back to work) , 3^rd I have to throw in words of wisdom from Dad/Grandpa ”togetherness after about 3 days is like a fish.. it starts to smell” and finally 4^th, this guy has lost his mind and I am tired of reading this blog!

Words of wisdom:” Yesterday was history, today is a mystery”

Rev. Eamon Dignan (retired)