Goodbye July

Editor’s note: The follow column originally appeared in the July 28, 2011 edition of the Daily Mail.

I have reached the age where I am not eager for any time period to end. Days and hours are becoming a scarce commodity so I want to use them to full advantage. But there are some time periods I don’t mind seeing pass by. This July is one of those times.

July always seemed like an exciting month. In addition to all the fun and activity around the Fourth of July, it was a month where none of my friends were in school, the pools were open, you could play outdoors almost every day, and there were lots of good things to eat. Watermelon was one of my favorites and it usually became available sometime in the month of July. That was before we were cautioned about using too much salt. In fact, there was a time when we were told that in hot weather it was good to eat more salt to replenish your body’s supply. But we could take the saltshaker outside with a cold watermelon and slurp all the juicy melon we could hold. We didn’t eat it inside because of the before mentioned slurping actions we often used. Mama preferred to let the dry grass get the benefit of our manners rather than the linoleum rug in the dining room. I still want some salt on my watermelon, but I try to control my manners to keep from messing up the table or floor.

Then when I got older I enjoyed July because it seemed that many activities had slowed down for the summer. Fairs and church camps took up some of July, but that kept the children busy and happy. My meetings often took a recess and I sometimes didn’t have to dress “for town” for a couple of days in a row.

Another benefit was that the grass usually didn’t need as much mowing in July. It was too hot and dry for it to grow much so that chore was not needed as often. Yes, Julys were nice months.

But this year I will be glad to see it leave. Our temperature has been VERY hot for most of the month. The news from Washington is confusing, disturbing and unbelievable. I feel in my heart that it will all turn out OK, but I want it to hurry up and get settled.

However August may be just as bad. Once the Aug. 2 crisis is over then the campaigning will commence in earnest. If every candidate is as stupid, evil and unpatriotic as every opponent says, then we are in for trouble. Wouldn’t it be great if someone who is running for office would tell us all the good things about the person running for the same office, and then add the fact that in spite of that you will find my qualities even better?

Instead of saying that our country is in big trouble, maybe someone could point out some of the good things we have going for us. Even the statement that whoever wins, we will be a great country would be nice. Not realistic perhaps, but nice.

So I’m not sure how much I will like August this year. Hopefully it won’t be as hot and dry. And hopefully our country will be settled down to work out our problems. But August doesn’t have any holidays so we just have to have our fun as we can.

Schools will start up again. Organizations will begin planning a new year of meetings. And there will still be time to do some outside things we didn’t get done in July.

No matter how much I am complaining, I still want to stick around to enjoy another July next year!