July

If you think of summer months as a trilogy, we’ve reached the second act.

I know that the first part of June isn’t technically summer, as we discussed a few weeks back,  and there are also a couple weeks in September that are attached to the end of summer (but it really feels like it’s a part of fall). Generally speaking, when we think of the summer months, they are June, July and August.

We’ve survived the unusually wild weather month of June (with floods and wildfires and killer storms and 100+ degree temperatures). The Dawg Days of August awaits off in the future. But we’ve reached July and, in terms of summer, that is Prime Time.

Welcome to Prime Time!

When I think of summer, I think of July – eating watermelon and home-made ice cream and other summer treats. Our nation gets things underway quickly with the July 4th holiday which we’ll celebrate, oddly, in the middle of the week this year. Normally, July 4th is attached to a long weekend (and often if need-be, you can take a day off to make a long four day weekend). But, there’s not much you can do with a Wednesday holiday except enjoy it for what it is.

I’ll write more about Independence Day when Wednesday rolls around.

As an aside, I find it interesting that three Western nations celebrate their national birthdays in July (Canada – July 1, U.S. – July 4, France – July 14). There must be a reason for that. Lisa recently suggested that, back in the day, by July, the rainy winter and spring seasons were over. This would have made travel much easier back in the 18th and 19th Centuries (so it was easier for patriots to gather). That’s a good suggestion.

I wonder if any historians know other plausible answers?

Apart from history, I like to think of July in a more general sense. For one thing, I have been working on a journaling project for Holly and Paul and as I have been doing that, I have been reading about Julys of my past – cook-outs, softball games, nights at the pool (swimming to keep cool). July can be such fun.

Not surprisingly, July is National Ice Cream Month and National Hot Dog Month. It is also National Blueberry Month (I’ve been really enjoying some nice blueberries with my morning breakfast cereal for the past few weeks).

For the most part, it has been our family vacation month. We weren’t able to vacation in July THIS year, but we have made most of our July vacation trips in July. Our Outer Banks trip that I wrote about the other day, for example, was last July. And it was just two years ago when we took the trip to Toronto that I mentioned yesterday.

Hard to believe that it was just two Julys ago that Holly was dipping her toes in the frosty waters of Lake Ontario.

Those are just a couple examples.

July is also a big month for baseball. When I was coaching baseball, we always took a break in July. But for the MLB, it’s a big month. Yesterday, for example, MLB announced the rosters for next week’s All Star Game, which will be played in Kansas City. Voting for the final spot on the All Star Teams goes through Thursday and the game is scheduled for July 10(with the annual Home Run Derby the night before).

So, July begins. By month’s end, Holly will come home from her Study Abroad program. The Summer Olympics will begin in London. The Presidential election will really heat up as we get closer and closer to the national conventions.

It will be a busy month. It will be a good month.

JG

Originally posted 7/2/2012