By G. E. Shuman

Okay! It looks like spring and summer may finally be upon us here in the lovely state of Vermont. After waiting only six or seven months, (sorry if that sounded snide) the grass is finally green, the leaves are out, bees and lawnmowers are buzzing around, and my family is actually planning a day at the beach. Wow!

I love this time of year in our beautiful state. I even look forward to caring for the lawn and outdoor plants and generally sprucing up the outside of our home. The excitement for those things will soon wear off, but they’re fun for me, for now. Fortunately, they will soon be followed by some great family times for us.

Spring and summer events don’t have to be exotic or expensive. In fact, cookouts, campfires, fishing trips, and fireworks are just some of the simple things that my favorite family memories are made of. Our biggest adventures are usually quick trips to the coast of Maine to stroll along the rocky shore and through village gift shops. These are the more ‘extravagant’ timeless ‘times’ that my family continues to enjoy.

I have shared here before about the sunny strolls and quiet picnics my wife and I have grown to cherish during the short summer months here in the North.  Our wicker picnic basket, (I have told you before, every couple needs to own one of those. If you don’t have one, go get one.) is filled at least a few times each summer and placed on the back seat of my elderly VW Beetle for a slow trip through either the Green Mountains or the White Mountains in search of just the right spot for our picnic that day.

This summer is a very special one for me and for my wife, and one in which we might need to do a little extra celebrating. I’m sure this is information you don’t need to know, but we are both retiring within the next few weeks. If this is something you have already done, you probably understand our excitement about it. If retirement is many years away for you, you can look forward to it, but don’t trade even one moment to make it come sooner. Enjoy today.

Our plan, if we have one at all, is to do a little traveling around our great country, to spend time with the grandkids before they’re grown, and to just enjoy the time that we have together. We want to have some fun in the sun, enjoy a beautiful northern fall, and then settle in (Lorna uses the words ‘hunker down’, but to me, that sounds like something Sumo Wrestlers do, and seems a little gross.) for another Vermont winter. Mostly we want to follow the advice I gave you in the last paragraph. We want to simply enjoy today.