Those Recent Summers

As I arrive home from an overnight shift and sleep through half of my summer day, I can't help but think of all the days of summers past. At this time some recent summers, I was bemoaning the end of a job or agonizing about a too-long stretch of no job at all. At this time some recent summers, I was sleeping through half of my summer day, not because I'd been working all night, but because I couldn't face another stretch of brilliant cover letters followed by deafening silence, or another stretch of uncertainty about whether I'd be working, and whether I'd be paid.

There are days when I question a life that has me sleeping, or sleepwalking, through my days. But when I look back to those other summers, the sleep looks pretty good. When I look back to those recent summers, I am reminded that a little perspective goes a long way. When I look back to those recent summers, I am grateful for a summer that, most of the time, gives me something of value, both in my bank account and with my family.

I am close enough to those recent summers to know that they were not "the good old days." Maybe, in some ways, there is no such thing as "the good old days." Those recent summers may have had their moments, but today, I'll stick with this "right now" summer--sleeping when I can, and appreciating the relative stability that no recent summer has shown me.

Until this one, like all the others, becomes just another recent summer...