Anyone that knows me knows I love summer. Yes, even when it’s been butt hot and humid like 2018, I love summer. The first of September signals the end of summer mentally to me. Though we have tons of hot weather left, in the meteorological world it’s the technical end of summer. Meteorological fall begins on September 1 each year, though it doesn’t start on the calendar until September 22 of this year.
When I was much younger my friend Burnie and I would travel to his folks family cabin at Kentucky Lake every Labor Day weekend. (That’s a shot of the lake in the header photo up top) Labor Day weekend always signaled the end of the fun season on the water. A time to get things put up and ready for winter. One last time around the lake in the boat or one last lazy afternoon lying on the floating deck in the sun, knowing winter wasn’t too far behind.
One of my best friends in life Burnie on the pier at Kentucky Lake in 1977 as we were getting ready to say so long to summer and shut down there for the winter. That old pier is long gone now replaced with a floating dock. To this day Burnie and I still meet back at the cabin at least once a year for a week, just to reconnect and relax for a few days in the summer.
Labor Day weekend always is a time I reflect on the a big part of the year behind and what little bit is left ahead. This year is no different. I’ve been thinking lots about this past year. The changes, both physical and mental I have made. How I’m tiring of the constant negative drumbeat of Facebook. The constant tit for tat fighting of people in business and political circles. There’s a line in the movie On Golden Pond with the late Henry Fonda and Katherine Hepburn. Norman, the 80 year old character played by Fonda, (no parallel here to my friend with that last name, to be clear!) has been at odds with his daughter for years. He always seems angry and mad. Inviting death and more or less giving up. His daughter (and real life daughter Jane in the movie) are trying to reestablish a connection. Neither are being very easy about it. Eventually Hepburn asks her daughter, “When do you think you’re going to get around to it? Your dad is 80 with a heart condition.” She’s was right. We often put off telling people how important they are until it’s too late. or conversely, we let others occupy time and space in our brains that shouldn’t. We let them be the things we check off of our lists daily versus our own things we should be checking off the list.
Myself and my great friend Burnie at Kentucky Lake in Tennessee this past May 2018. This was the last picture we had taken before the cabin behind us started undergoing a major renovation that’s completed in late 2018. We always have great visits here. We’ve been coming to this spot since we were teenagers.
Yvette’s got me into listening to podcasts a lot lately. It’s been a good thing. I recently listened to one on The Tim Ferris Show where the founder and CEO of Dropbox, Drew Houston, was interviewed. He’s an engineering type that struck it big. He discussed lots of how he got there and how he manages it all. He’s maybe in his early 30s now. One of the things he did long ago was creating an email box on his computer caller OPP. Other People’s Problems. That’s what happens to us in life often. You realize you’re spending more time on other people’s problems and not your own. Not that we shouldn’t help others and be good to others, but far too often we don’t even do it for ourselves. Our own families. It’s one of the reasons I got very serious about fitness in the past two years. Just exactly how much longer was I going to wait to start?
Like any other Labor Day Weekend of the past, I have been reflecting this year. But I must say many of the changes I am making are positive. I am letting go of lots of baggage, and people, and things that simply are holding me back. That’s been good. It’s been refreshing.
I still am not looking forward to winter. Cold weather and I don’t dance very well, but I also realize spring awaits just on the other side!
Have a great Labor Day holiday everyone!
Tommy
TommyStafford.com 