Putting summer on a time clock

As you know summer officially arrived this past Sunday so most would conclude that the summer season is just getting into full swing.  

That would be the logical conclusion. The school year is over and vacation time is here for many.  However in my glass is usually half-empty and not half-filled logic I feel that in some cases the end is near; that’s the end of summer and not civilization. 

To me it’s all about the build-up and that was especially true following the winter of 2015.  You start counting down the days to Memorial Day which of course is the unofficial start of summer.  My favorite period is the time between that holiday weekend and right around now because it’s sort of like pre-summer, those four of five weekends are like a bonus.

Now that summer is here the clock is already ticking and every weekend that goes by means were are closer to Labor Day then the Memorial Day that already passed. I know this doesn’t make sense but it’s kind of like when you’re on a one-week vacation. The first day or two are great because you still have plenty of time left but once you get to the third or fourth day you realize the end is getting closer.

I know this doesn’t make sense on June 24^th but let me try and make my case…as strange as it is.  Counting Memorial Day we have already had five “summer weekends.”  There’s only 11 left until Labor Day so we’re basically one-third through real summer.  I don’t know if you’ve checked but the weather forecast for this weekend is not promising. It looks like I could be beach-less which means there would only be 10 Saturdays and Sundays left for sun and fun. 

In truth I do have plenty of vacation time I have to burn this summer so hopefully I’ll have many days to come on the North Avenue beach in Seaside Park.

Part of all of this is based on tradition.  My late father used to call me every year on the first day of summer which is the longest day of the year in terms of daylight (15 hours).   He would proclaim that while it was a great day it was also a reminder that we would start heading in the opposite direction losing a bit of daylight daily. 

He would also call me on the first day of winter, the shortest day of the year (9 hours, 20 minutes of daylight) to remind me that the very next day the clock start heading in the other direction and each day would get longer which was something to look forward to. 

Are you buying this?