Summer is Flying By…

By Brian G. Schommer

As the saying goes, “Time flies when you are having fun.” I do not know about you but, I must be having one heck of a good time because this summer seems to be passing by at the average lap speed of a car in the Indianapolis 500, which by the way, was 190.69 miles per hour in the latest running of the event. In talking with others, I am not alone in feeling that this summer has gone by just a bit faster than others. Is it because society has a renewed energy due to being able to get out and about to interact in various social activities? Because things like vacations were put on hold, trying to make up for lost time in one big swoop makes sense. Whatever the reasons, there seems to be a common theme that summer is flying by. We live in a very “go, go, go” world and depending on your family situation, the “go, go, go” activities are many and varied. So many people I know are constantly running kid one to baseball practice, kid two to their softball game and taking kid number three off to dance while making sure that their significant other knows to go to kid number two’s softball game and after the game, hustle kid number two into their vehicle so they can go pick up kid number one from baseball. Wait… who is picking up kid number three? No worries there, the person that started the whole “get them to where they need to be” plan stayed at the dance studio and volunteered their time to keep their costs down. It may be that they also are not into sports, so it works out well for everyone. This is commonplace and you can interchange the activities from season to season, activity to activity. It is a juggling act for sure and I am impressed as I watch from my “the kids are in their 20’s” perch on just how many of my family and friends successfully keep it all going. I know I would have lost a kid, even for a short period of time, had we had more than two kids. Seeing people at the ballparks, tennis courts, the aquatic center (be it swim lessons or recreational swimming), on the bike paths or at an outdoor event is refreshing. Joni Mitchell sang, “Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone.” It is hard to argue those words and they are adaptable to many situations in our lives. We lost things like this for a period that we will never get back.

When we lose something, it helps us realize how important or vice versa what we lost was. We knew there was value to it, but we did not know how much or how little the value was until it was gone. Example, I always knew that my mom was very important in my life. I never discounted her value to me and our family, even if my actions did not necessarily always show it. However, when she got sick and decided that it was time to let nature take its course, I realized how much more valuable she was to me. I realized that she was “invaluable;” priceless beyond estimation. It was when she took her final breath that true appreciation for her was realized.

In turn, when we realize how valuable something is because we lost it, if we can find it again, we are able to experience again, that true appreciation for what we lost. To stay on the musician line, Gladys Knight is quoted as saying, “sometimes the best things are right in front of you; it just takes time to see them.” Just being able to go to ballgames again or to perform LIVE MUSIC in front of and for the benefit of others, I have come to find were way more important to me than I had thought. Have you had a new realization of different things that you knew were important but did not realize until they were gone just how important they were? Our culture has been increasingly becoming a “go, go, go” society and I think, because of what we lost for a short period of time, THAT is why so many of us “upped” our game to maybe even the “go, go, go, GO” level.

While summer is flying by and most would say more than half over, there are plenty of things on the horizon to do here in our wonderful neck of Minnesconsin. Take a deep breath and hold on tight because there does not seem to be a slow down in sight. Keep going, having fun and Get Out and Enjoy the Great Outdoors.