I have an item I’m thinking of putting on my Christmas list this year.
Now, the holiday is only four months away, and I saw two things this past week that really brought that home. One was a pickup truck driving past South Beach in Marquette with a snow blower in the back, and the other was some changing leaves. It makes me shudder every time I look at it..
Anyway, that got me to thinking about my annual Christmas list. For decades now I’ve had two things on it I think would be really cool; world peace and my own spaceship. I haven’t gotten either yet, which really is making me doubt my belief in Santa Claus, but seeing the snow blower and the changing leaves made me think that maybe I should add a third item. A free month every summer.
Let me explain. Summers are short in the U.P, and we try to cram as much into them as we can. Because of that, summer can go by just like that. One day it’s Memorial Day, and the next you’re seeing snow blowers in the back of pickup trucks.
It’s just not fair.
So what I’m thinking of asking Santa is that every person in the U.P. who wants it gets a summer month off from all of their responsibilities. No work, no visitors, no commitments, no nothing. You get a month just to relish the beauty and the fun of an Upper Michigan summer.
You could take any of the months off; June for the sun, July for the heat, or August when things start to wind down. It doesn’t matter which one. What does matter is that you get one. We try to cram enough into our summers as it is. Having a month to just enjoy the season while it’s here is a gift I think we might all appreciate.
So, I’ll stick that on my Christmas list this year and maybe Santa will listen. After all, I’ve been so successful in getting both world peace and my own spaceship that asking for a month off during summer should be a piece of cake. Right?
