Is, then, September come so soon?
Full time doth summer ne'er abide?
While yet it seems but summer's noon,
We're floating down the autumn tide.
~Eunice E. Comstock, The Atlantic Monthly, October 1873
Is it just me, or did Summer just set a new record for "Fastest Season Ever"?
Temperatures are still climbing to 100 degrees Fahrenheit or more every day here in Austin - very much "summer's noon" - but past experience tells me it won't be long before I trade my daily uniform of a sleeveless dress and sandals for jeans and boots.
Business exploded this summer - the real estate market in Austin is still going strong, and I'm grateful! So even though I've kept up with my 'sweet' journal, posting them here has been a time-luxury I just couldn't afford.
However, in honor of Labor Day, I'm taking a few hours off this evening to indulge myself by sharing a few highlights from my summer "sweet!"s and provide a "Sixty by Sixty" update.
It will take me 2 or 3 hours to compose this, believe it or not, but it's a chance to look back over photos, re-read pages of my "sweet" journal, choose quotes, and just generally slow down and ponder life and all that I have to be grateful for... which I'm always reminded is a LOT.
So, here I go...
I made a considerable dent in my "Sixty by Sixty " list this summer - I'm up to 37 "first time..."s. Over halfway there, and I still have 7 months to go!
I was able to cross off some of the major items, too: I took a yoga class... finally experienced a Harlem Globetrotters game ... and rode the Metro train downtown to attend the Keller Williams Mega Camp convention.
I ate at several good Austin restaurants for the first time, heard John Maxwell speak in person (he's funny!), and perhaps most memorable of all, experienced little C smiling at me - at ME - for the first time. He's a charmer, as you can see from this photo of him with his daddy (who happens to be my baby, all grown up)...
We've been blessed with being owned by many awesome dogs over the years, and also with a sweet, aging grandpuppy who came to visit us twice in August!
Our niece was in town for her cousin's baby shower. We met her and her precious two girls for dinner one night.
We hadn't seen them since the oldest was a baby!
Tom and I celebrated our 36th wedding anniversary in August.
We were married on a Friday the 13th. The next year, right after our 1st anniversary, we experienced Hurricane Alicia passing over our house in League City, Texas.
Never a dull moment for us!
Since then we've chased dreams, been broke, built our own home, and supported each other financially and emotionally. It's been thirty-six years of laughter, tears, heartaches, and joy... of butting heads and seeing eye-to-eye...of raising our children, watching them grow into actual adults, and now watching our new grandson growing way, way too fast.
Another tiny thread that sews us together.
Chains do not hold a marriage together. It is threads, hundreds of tiny threads which sew people together through the years.
~Simone Signoret
Here are a few more sweet!s since my last update...
Being able to attend the services and support friends as they mourn the loss of parents
Multiple referrals from friends and past clients
My husband and son's help putting up For Sale signs, and my son helping me with open houses
Finally watching the movie "Buckaroo Bonzai" (how did I miss this one?)
My cousin having my grandmothers' slides digitally scanned and put on discs
Commission checks
Listening to Napoleon Hill's book "Think and Grow Rich" twice (I wish someone had told me about this one a long time ago!)
Audible, so I can "read" while driving
Rain
A sky full of stars in a pre-dawn morning
An old friend of Tom's finding us through this blog!
Playing my drums
Helping 5 friends/family members connect with great real estate agents near them
Having to buy more signs and lockboxes because of all my new listings
Two separate 60th birthday parties for friends
Reading the journals I kept for my kids during their childhoods
My daughter making sure I came out to see the full moon just before it sank behind the treetops on the horizon
Knowing my sister has friends close by when she needs extra help
Friends coming to visit via helicopter for a gathering of our Italy group
Being dive-bombed by a hummingbird
The macaroons at Elizabeth Street Cafe
And last but not least... lots of heart rocks.
There shall be eternal summer in the grateful heart.
~Celia Thaxter
I'm wishing for you an eternal summer! (Maybe not one quite this hot, though.)
