My summer (break)

It seems that my summer has come and gone in a flash. It’s already mid-August! What the heck! I guess I shouldn’t be mad, since the majority of my summer was spent with my nose in the books. My summer semester came to a close at the first week of this month. It’s a cruel ironic joke I think. I spent the whole summer ‘wishing’ and ‘wanting’ the summer semester to end.. And little did I know that meant the summer season and summer weather would also end.
*sigh*

I already wake up to temps in the high 50’s. In my part of the world, that means the Fall semester is creeping up on us. I already miss the 70 degree mornings. At least the sun is still blazing during the day – so it’s not over just yet!

My summer semester blew in and blew out like a tornado and it seems that my semester ‘break’ is also whittling away. I already got notifications for 2 of my 3 classes I’m taking this fall. Things are moving too darn fast folks.

Even though my summer flew by I still managed to enjoy it. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. If you can’t take the traditional vacation (or stay-cation) for your stress relief, there are other means of enhancing your happiness. Here are just some of the things I was able to do this summer, even with my hectic school schedule and my wife’s work schedule.

Quality ‘time-out’

I was able to spend some quality time with a number of local friends (something we somehow always never have time for?). Dinner and a movie. Dinner and some adult beverages. One weekend night we had dinner and then just spent the evening gossiping and playing the ‘catch-up’ conversation game. It was just what I (we) needed. It’s amazing how time spent with good friends really does comfort the soul.

Weekend warrior

We took a 4-day long weekend during mid-summer to take in the sights of my old college campus. While we were there, we took in the sights, I bored my wife we gruesome ‘this one time’ stories around my old stomping ground. We also got to see and stroll through a wonderful Arts Festival that is held every year. It was a short road trip to and from, but it was far enough away that you could disconnect from the daily grind.

Dinner date

Every so often my beautiful wife and I would just pick a random weekend night and go out to eat. Nothing fancy-shmancy. Just me and her, playing a lil’ dress-up (Yes, anything we wear outside of scrubs is what I call dress-up). Just another way to break the monotony. Not to mention I love seeing my wife dress-up.

Family

We visited the in-laws and my folks more often than our usual. We did it on purpose. Not sure what most families are like, but we don’t see ours very often, even though we live only a few miles apart. Conversation was always about the 411 on other family members, local gossip and of course ‘what’s coming up’ on the calendar. Always nice to spend time with your family. Another great equalizer.

In the end, I (we) always try to balance the stressful nature of our lives with things that we enjoy. We take walks whenever possible around the neighborhood, and will take in the occasional movie at the theater, or rental. We thankfully have one last 4-day trip coming up before the impending doom of the fall semester begins. I’m going to enjoy every second of it.