Ryan Trares
The craziness has passed. Now’s when the dog days of summer get a little lazier.
Summertime is without doubt my favorite time of year. But as I’ve grown older, I’ve recognized there’s actually two distinct halves within the same season.
For the first six weeks or so, things get a little crazy in the Trares household. Starting at Memorial Day weekend, the weekends seem to be jam-packed. We have birthday celebrations, and gatherings with family for events such as Father’s Day. This year, we had a vacation to Michigan wedged in there.
In no way is that a complaint. I love having friends and family to get together with to celebrate together. Our vacation was quality time spent together that only a road trip can inspire — a way to get off of our devices and to enjoy each other’s company on the beach, along the riverfront, sitting on the front porch of a rental house.
Everything leads up to the tentpole milestone of the summer: Anthony’s birthday party. Earlier this month, and for days following, there were bounce houses and birthday cake and brunch. Anthony wanted to take a trip to the Indianapolis Zoo, so we watched sea lions torpedo through the water, brown bears cool off in the water and alligators staring us down from their pond.
Tying it all together was Fourth of July barbecues and fireworks.
After all of that, my heart is full — even if my body is ready for a break.
And that leads us to the second phase of summertime. From now until school starts back up in early August, we have very few concrete plans. Weekends are wide open and full of potential.
I have visions of lazy Saturdays at our community pool, campouts in the backyard, bike rides to the local park. We’ll be able to hit up the area farmers markets just as the summer bounty of fresh tomatoes, peppers and sweet corn are ready to eat.
Anthony has a weeklong morning art camp and then soccer camp the week after that.
It’s true every year that there is never enough time in June and July to do everything we want to — that’s the unfortunate reality of summertime.
But with the coming weeks so wide open, it feels like we have room to breathe, to let the season unfold naturally. We can rush around if we want, or take our time and savor every festival, fair, pool excursion and cookout. It’s all up to us.
The first half of summer was an all-time great in terms of fun activities and exhilarating experiences. I can’t wait to see what the sequel has in store for us.
Ryan Trares is a senior reporter and columnist for the Daily Journal in Franklin. Send comments to [email protected].
