The Summer of George

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There’s a Seinfeld episode where George gets let go from his job just before summer starts, and he’s given a 3 month severance package.  He decides to live it up, makes grand plans, and declares it “The Summer of George.”  Of course because it was Seinfeld, the summer doesn’t go quite as he anticipated… he ends up sitting around doing nothing, getting so weak and atrophied that when he falls down a flight of stairs and breaks his leg, he’s told he may never be rehabilitated enough to walk again.  His friends respond with their usual level of compassion, leaving him alone at the hospital while they go off to the diner for a cup of coffee.

I miss that show.

I think of that episode, or at least those words, (“But it’s the Summer of George!!”) every time summer rolls around again.  Good, bad, planned, spontaneous…. in my head, it’s always the Summer of George.

This year, the prospect of summer – especially this month – brought with it a fair amount of stress.  It meant Spencer’s surgery (which went very well!) and recovery and physical therapy, it meant daily swimming lessons for Everett and Tegan.. and more ballet and karate and gymnastics.  It meant I was to be a single mom for a week while Mike went away.  It meant baby sitting and dog sitting and house-sitting.  It meant another month of dealing with pain, which would likely bring with it another month of not sleeping.

It meant I would once again get myself so worked up that I’d have to hit bottom before I could start de-tangling and sorting and making sense of it all.  In the past I would have blogged about it, made a big proclamation about Taking better care of myself!  Getting organized!  Eating better!  Employing healthier ways to deal with stress!  Finding peace in the moment!  And Blah Blah Blah.  An epic recipe for eating your words if ever there was one.   Instead, I decided I’d just sort of quietly do it. 

So I have.

And now we’re already ten days in to June, and I feel good.  Calm.  Happy.  Excited about a new project.  Spencer’s surgery is over, and PT will start soon.  The little ones are loving swimming.   Paxton is happy and enjoying his own pursuits.  The busiest part of the month will be over in less than two weeks.  It’s all good, even in its unpredictability.  But really, how could it not be?  It’s the Summer of George.

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