Summer Solstice

Summer is here....

Normally, that wouldn't mean much in the desert; normally, the heat has already settled in, and one hundred degree temperatures are already the norm, and Tucsonans gird their loins in preparation for another three months of heat.

But I think we've had a mild spring this year, and it's just been this week that the heat has reached that oppressive level wherein every movement is bound by a lethargy unmatched in winter months.

Somehow, I don't mind at the moment, and that's probably for two reasons. One, I just returned from a very mild weekend in the DC area, where I went to the wedding of dear friends. Two, I am headed to San Diego for a conference next weekend, where my biggest worry is how much of the conference I'll be willing to attend when the beach beckons.

But perhaps the biggest reason the heat hasn't soured my mood is that I know I'll be spending most of my summer away from it.

July 1, I hit the road, bound east for Hollis.

I have a lot to do between now and then, and what I thought seemed like a long time (an entire month!) away now seems unnervingly short. But I'm truly looking forward to both the journey and the destination.

And now, I have the journey back to Tucson to look forward to in an entirely different way. I had talked with my father a while back about road-tripping with me to Florida--my grandfather turns 90 (90!) at the beginning of August, and I thought it was a good excuse to get my dad traveling. He's never been a big traveller, and now that he has to do so without Barbara, my stepmother, I worry that he won't take advantage of visiting us out here in Tucson--especially in the winter months, when he has a tendency to get the blues anyway.

But on Father's Day, he surprised me. Not only has he decided that would be a good idea, but he thinks he should come all the way back to Tucson with me. My first reaction was, "well, that will completely change the nature of my trip!" And then, I realized what a great gift that would be. My father and I have had a chance to get closer in the last few years--while I was living in Maryland, I would get up to visit several times a year--and I count myself so lucky in the nature of our relationship. I know him as a father, and as a human being--foibles and all.

But to travel alone with him, across the country--what a gift! I haven't quite decided how I'll record the event, but I have a strong sense that it does need to be kept elsewhere beyond the vault of memory.

Don't be surprised if some of it shows up here.

But for now, I should get back to planning...

Oh, and the summer solstice? Also Dad's birthday. Happy birthday, dad....