Summer Send Off…

This is it. The end of summer vacation 2025.

My Summer Send Off was only a one time post the first year I started my blog. Last year, a decade later, I resurrected the idea of this type of article to share my reflections on the season. Formatted as a review of lessons learned, some are reminders of favorite posts while others are an opportunity to highlight material that never made it to the website. With an end so definite this year- August 31st was the last day of the month, the last day of the week, the last day of Summer vacation…
I think we could all use an extra send off!

Lessons Learned

…at 3:00 in the afternoon…

Spud City Creamery at Harper’s Mercantile in Antigo

Lessons Learned

With patience

Remember this lone black eyed Susan from last year (October’s favorite photo)? I spoke about the importance of leaving well enough alone and appreciating nature’s beauty just as it is.

“We get swept up in perfection sometimes. We clamor for order and rules. We become arrogant that our way is the universal best practice. And we become so focused on cleaning things up that we miss out…

We miss out on some of the best things that come from those messy parts of our lives.”

What it looks like now:

Lessons Learned

From a Hodag

In the Northwoods of Rhinelander Wisconsin where this legend was born, an old wooden Hodag looks out from a lit up box like one of those fortune telling machines at a carnival.

And it is exactly how I remember it.

I haven’t been here since my childhood but the displays, the smell of the old cabins, the crunch of pine needles underfoot…I didn’t need the Hodag to grant me a wish to travel back in time, because this place did it for me.

Lessons Learned

When you don’t always get what you want

I might have ended up with some near perfect wild flower photos for my birthday story, but it all really started on a random weekday when I passed on a roadside photo op. I had prepared to stop for a picture on my way back only to find all the flowers cut off a few hours later. In an instant of feeling every emotion- disappointment, frustration, anger, regret…I chose instead to pick up the pieces. Literally.

I drove around for three days with a bouquet in a water bottle to remind myself that things don’t always go according to plan.

That loss can happen in an instant and there is nothing we can do to turn time back.

That remembering the beauty we once witnessed must sometimes be enough.

The ironic part is I will now remember that day and those flowers and this lesson more because of this image- than one that would have been perfect.

Which is why I might not have gotten the photo I wanted– but I got the one I needed.

Lessons Learned

From dressing up

It has been weeks, weeks since our annual summer party and I am still finding them.

Little pink gems in a tray on an end table, stuck to the rug in the office, on the bathroom floor…

And black feathers…they keep floating out from somewhere, I don’t know where(!) to the cats delight.

Every time I find one, every time I see them…I smile. They are the remnants of our annual summer theme party, going on 19 years strong. They remind me how blessed I am and to always, always cherish the friends I have.

Lessons Learned

Living in the Moment

The actual night of my birthday was colder and more dreary than anyone could imagine a June day to be. A family linked to ours suffered a monumental loss. And it would have been easy to put away the birthday candles, curl up and spend the evening mourning.

But if you knew this family, you know they would never have wanted that.

We grilled out, despite the rain.

We gathered together, and found comfort in each others company.

We made new memories, to heal our broken hearts.

And to all those who have been in this tough spot I say-

Have the party.

If you can.

It might not feel like the right time. You might be tired and worn out. It might be cold and raining. There might be 1,000 reasons to cancel. But in the end you won’t remember the tears from the day. You will remember the smiles. You will remember the faces of those that showed up.

And while there is nothing you can do to change the tragedy that occurred- you can choose to live in this very moment and make it matter.

See-ya later Summer!