Dog Days

Other than the dark cold days of February, August is probably my least favorite month of the year. I'm certain that has more to do with the 16 years of my life I attended school than any other possible reason. Five of those years really sucked because me and my brothers went to a private school. We started our school year about three weeks later than the public schools so we were bored out of our minds by the time the first classes rolled around.

Another reason are the obvious signs that summer is quickly coming to a close. Despite the fact that according to the solar calendar we're just halfway through the summer solstice, Madison Avenue is telling us we're already late in shopping for our fall wardrobe and it's time to get out the Halloween decorations. I for one am not ready to close the pool, winterize the gardening tools, and attend my first football game just yet.

I guess the biggest reason is the fact that I'm fast approaching the August years of my life. I'd like to think that I still have some June and July left but the reality is that more of those dog days of summer have quietly crept up on me. I'm getting more nostalgic about things from my youth. For instance I barely listened to my Sirius satellite radio at the beach last week and instead kept my dial tuned to the local oldies classic rock station. Song after song reminded me of the Myrtle Beach summer vacations of yesteryear. Bands like Boston, Foreigner, Van Halen, Fleetwood Mac, Rush, Chicago, and The Eagles filled the airwaves. Although Ben thoroughly enjoyed the daily concerts Mom and Dad performed I'm certain Jessie was glad to return home to Hannah Montana and Jesse McCartney.

So on this "mid-summer" Friday afternoon I'm going to put down the paint brush little later. I'm going to pop open an ice-cold beer and sit on our deck while the grill heats up a couple of steaks. I'll get Joan to crank up the Earth, Wind, & Fire CDs and we'll have a little party while reminiscing over our not-so-long-ago "springtime." We'll share a toast in celebration of our newest niece and the fact that Jessie won't be embarrassed at her parents pretending to be teenagers again. After all she'll be at a friend's house lamenting about this being the last weekend of the summer before school starts.

An exercise in Nostalgia...
Share your nostalgic memories, songs, movies, etc. with me and the rest of the readers here! Either post them in the Critique (comment) section below or do a blog post about it (or them). Just let me know you're doing that with a heads up comment or a link back here. This should be interesting knowing the variety of ages that visit here often!

I'll begin it with comment below....