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Mielke: Summer really on the horizon

The month of June has arrived, blown in on the winds of change, fragrant with the smell of lilacs, backyard barbecues and freshly cut green grass.
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The month of June has arrived, blown in on the winds of change, fragrant with the smell of lilacs, backyard barbecues and freshly cut green grass.

It truly is such a lovely month, reminding us once again that no matter what is going on in our world, the changing of the seasons will remains constant and forever.

So, apparently, will the rising gas prices.

Anyway, for all teachers and students and anyone involved in the world of education, June is a busy month with every activity under the sun all crammed together so they can all eventually wind down and be finished before July pops up and summer really gets underway.

There is baseball, soccer, basketball, and softball. There are final exams and track meets and field trips and the littlest grandson has his first communion. There are report cards and job interviews and hoping. And, of course, graduation. And there are beach parties and campfires and long summer nights where magic hovers about like it does when the blue velvet sky seems to be clothes pinned together with a million stars and the air feels soft on your skin, like a gentle, soft whisper.

I love it all.

Being a grandma, I am only on the peripheral edge of all the goings-on in my little world. Even so, my June calendar page is filled with upcoming ball tournaments, basketball tournaments and one especially important graduation, not to mention a grandparent’s tea which I got invited to even though I am only an auntie.

I do not really mind being on the peripheral edge. I just want to be there; a visible, smiling face, an unspoken reminder to all these offspring of mine that the best songs have yet to be written and the best games have yet to be played. And I see in them greatness, wonder and untold potential even when they strike out, even when they crash and burn at that job interview and even when they fail math miserably.

The world is a better place because they are in it. I know it. I just want them to know it. Always.

And so, I will do my best to cheer them on, grateful for a chance to help them shine, however that looks for them.

With all this stuff going on in my little world, I have, for some reason known only to people such as myself who are often less than logical, made my days even a little longer than usual because of my own workout class.

My workout class starts at 5:45 a.m. for crying out loud.

On a brighter note, it is finished, done and over by 6:30 a.m. at which time I actually open my eyes and mutter to no one in particular, “I did it.”

They say that early to bed, early to rise makes a person healthy, wealthy, and wise.

I have, however, noticed no change in myself. I am still a little too plump for my liking, I am definitely no richer and I was actually much smarter when I did not realize how much I did not know.

But I do have to say there is a certain amount of pride in adopting a get up and go attitude which basically means do not allow yourself to think or reason as to why you are doing this when the alarm goes off at 5:15, shattering your soft and hazy dream into a million shards of reality.

And it is quite wonderful, indeed, to complete writing tasks, housework, and other important duties, whatever they may be earlier rather than later.

And then, before all the happenings that are going on in my world that I happen to be on the peripheral edge of start to happen, I can complete one more important task.

I can have a nap! A wonderful, delightful, delicious nap!

Treena Mielke is a Central Alberta writer and lives in Sylvan Lake with her family.