What can I say about Summer? A season of heat, sun, hot dogs, barbeque, and my unspeakable disdain for sand. What an exciting time for doing absolutely nothing, relaxing and vegging out. Jumping back to reality from my little daydream, I’m writing a blog. On a computer. In my office. With harsh lighting. Really exciting stuff going on right here.

Summer used to be a time for fun in the sun for everyone. Many of my teenage years were spent at Boy Scout camp in Running Springs, CA up in the San Bernardino Mountains. Spent a few summers as a camper when I was a little Cub Scout, and then staff/faculty when I got REALLY tall (worked 18 hour days. Exhausting, but fun).

I remember taking impressively long road trips, visiting dozens of national parks and monuments across the western half of the U.S.. My mom would drag us to the beach to do beach clean-ups (did I mention that I hate sand?). I remember doing summer reading programs at the local library and reading a ton of books to get cool little prizes. I do remember a really awesome set of Pokémon stickers; read over 20 books for those bad boys. Ten year old me was really excited for those stickers.

I remember hating summer homework, but then again, homework is horrible to begin with. With the addition of it being REQUIRED during my summer break made it all the more heinous. Needless to say, I have plenty of fond (and a few not-so-fond) memories of summer.

As the years marched on, I had the not-so-fun task of “Growing Up” with bills, working full time, and a live-in boss demanding a snack (my son). I found myself wondering what happened to the good old days of Summer Fun. Where did it go? When did I forget about it?

Then it hit me a couple of years ago after a long string of the mundane. Doing nothing but eating, sleeping, and working to pay off the bills I realized that I NEEDED to take a walk. Sure, it’s hot outside. I’m a gamer on the inside and sunlight burns my soul, but it felt good to do nothing OUTSIDE. I literally sat on the grass under a palm tree and thought ”I’m bored. Not just kinda bored, but really bored”

And that’s when the weekend day trips started to happen. We went to the zoo. We went to the park. I started disc golfing. My wife dragged us to the beach (*grumble*…sand). Thinking back on it, I was trying to capture those hours in the car going to the next place, hanging out for a few hours, then setting out to the next destination. For me, that was a summer vacation. That was my childhood growing up.

This one’s really simple this time: Don’t waste your summer. Always find a way to capitalize on the season. The weather is too good to waste it indoors, even sitting out on the porch with an ice-cold beer (or lemonade, some folks don’t drink and I don’t judge). Just go out and do SOMETHING. A little vitamin D from the Sun is good for the soul. GO OUTSIDE!