An Ode to Summer: The Talking Place (Episode 33)
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🎶Summer has come and pass. The innocence can never last. Wake me up when September ends.🎶
I was debating how I’d do this. I didn’t know if I was going to put out a whole big post talking about summer, and then a separate one for the podcast. But I figured that would probably be redundant. So here it is! A hybrid post. Everything you love about a regular post, all in the form of show notes for a podcast episode. Two birds, one stone, I say. Don’t get me wrong, there are things we did that are very worthy of dedicating a post to. And I will! But for now, this is where it’s at.
Listen, there is a tremendous bittersweet symphony playing in my heart every time summer comes to a close. Spending time with my kids and just letting them do whatever their heart desires without the constraints of school, it’s awesome, it’s the best, I love it, I do, BUT! When the last week, week and a half comes and there is a giant, over-the-top, metaphorical grandfather clock ticking away the minutes until school starts back up.. well, it kinda takes control.
The chaos that ensues those last weeks of summer vacation is full of off-the-wall bouncing, nervous pacing, frantic planning, and the ever-so-subtle guilt trip of “BUt iT’S thE LaSt wEeK oF SumMEr VaCAtiON!”
Needless to say, that first day of school is met with equal parts “awwww, the house is so quiet, I wish they didn’t have to go back,” and “If you don’t get in the car right now, so help me, I will put you on the hood and you’ll ride it like a surf board all the way to school!”
It’s a delicate balancing act us parents have to manage. Add it to the long list of other balancing acts we’ve perfected. Like knowing a realistic sounding timeframe to give as an E.T.A. versus the actual time that you just know would not be an acceptable answer. Or knowing how many snacks to take out of a box that has been marked “ONLY FOR SCHOOL” without it looking like any are missing. Or my favorite, knowing just how sarcastic/passive aggresive you can be to a spouse before you set off the boundry alarms and cause a “is something wrong?!” unskippable cutscene to be triggered.
The act of parenting school kids is an art. And summer vacation is a museum where that art is displayed and admired. But it’s not touched! Because everything is on pause and every person is for themselves lol. The school year is full of so many ups, downs, arguments, schedules, time constraints, frustrations, hassles, attitudes, oh my goodness the freaking. attitude. Teenagers, don’t get me started.
But this is where the chaos comes in. I mentioned it on the episode a few times. After so many years of trying so hard to control the chaos and fail miserably, I learned to just let it be. I know how it’s going to be. I know how the day to day will go. There is zero point in attempting to do anything productive because there’s too much going on to focus. And me being the stay-at-home parent that I am, I can’t just lock myself away and let the clowns run the circus. So I chill. I wait it out.
Could I have planned it better? Absolutely hahaha. I could’ve worked on stuff the last few weeks of school and had plenty of podcasts and blog posts lined up to release throughout the summer. But c’mon, that would be soooo out of character! And if I’m anything, I’m consistent.
But anyway, that’s where I’ve been. I was in a really nice flow, making content fairly regular and I felt like my old self again. I’m happy to know I’ll have some free time to dedicate to it again. I set a goal for myself to work on my book and hopefully have it done by October/November. I know I could do it without a doubt. So I need to split up my time to work on both that and feeling connected with putting content out. Fun times!
So for the record, what did we do this summer? Well, during the first few weeks we found ourselves on an adventure. Drove up to Destin, FL in the panhandle for our very first beach vacation! Living here so long, imagine that. While there we got back into the car and drove even further to finally experience New Orleans. I’m definitely going to be dedicating a post to this getaway so look forward to that.
After we came back though we did a whole lotta nothin’! Hahaha. Every summer we do two vacations to bookend the time off. So Destin was the first, and the second was supposed to be staying on property at one of the new Universal Orlando hotels, with the surprise of finally going to Epic Universe. Unfortunately, thanks to the absolutely insane heat we’ve been getting here in Florida, we decided an entire day – open to close – in a brand new theme park that is still jammed pack with visitors? Probably not the best way to have a good time.
So with no Epic Universe in the cards, we figured it wasn’t going to be worth it to stay at Universal. Which had us thinking about Disney, but they’re being as stupid as the heat with their prices for things. Then the last two weeks of summer we had family visit us from NYC, and the teen’s girlfriend from Hawaii (yes, she’s real) came down the week after. So basically, the time for our second vacation got slipped out from under our feet and we wound up doing nothing. It sucks, we feel bad. But on the bright side, it has us looking forward to other things we plan on doing that we don’t need an entire week for.
We want to hopefully get to Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party while the princess is still young enough to really enjoy it. Maybe get the boys to Universal Orlando’s Halloween Horror Nights. And maybe even get out to a weekend cruise with my parents. So here’s to hoping the void of our second summer vacation not happening is enough to light a fire under us and get us moving on other things.
We’ll see! As for now, it’s back to school madness and getting used to waking up so, so early again. One thing I do not miss is the wife telling me every single morning in her groggy, half-dead voice, “go take him and I’ll get up tomorrow.” Which, if you didn’t get that she tells me this every morning, you should know it’s a lie. A big lie. Because for most of the school year last year, my love and devotion to my amazing and beautiful wife not only blinded my judgement, but it clouded my BS-o-Meter. Every single morning she told me this, I rolled out of bed powered only by the happiness of knowing that the next morning I’ll get to sleep in. Little did I know that for at least 3 seconds, my wife smiled and laughed to herself at the expense of my gullibility, as she quickly fell back asleep before I even reached the bathroom door. And this happened every single morning. Because not only do I love my wife, but I’m also a gullible fool.
ANYWAY. I’ll leave this at that. I’m looking forward to updating again and catching up on all the stuff I’ve missed. I have a buuuuuunch of stuff to talk about with games, movies, books, and more. And the humpday update!! I need to get back on that train something fierce. I need to get to work!
I think I’ll do this from now on. Have a complimentary post to go with the podcast episode. I like it!
Until next time!
Que dios te bendiga
Los
Hi, this is me. And I’m back on the grind with podcasting. If you need help finding where to listen: You can find linked at the top of this post, or check out the info page for the show right here, or simply search and subscribe to The Talking Place anywhere you listen to podcasts.
On this episode – episode 33 – I’m talking about our summer, how it went, and what I’ve been doing with all my free time (spoiler: I didn’t have any). So sit back, relax, and enjoy the show.
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- Go check out episode 37 of On Second Thought with Mike & Matt. I joined these fine gentlemen to discuss our thoughts on the Nintendo Switch 2 after having it for a month!
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