by Phyllis McCrossin
The calendar says summer officially ends (this year) Sept. 22, and fall will continue through Dec. 21. We all know that is not true. Summer ends the day everyone goes back to school. Winter begins with the first snowfall – unless it happens before Halloween, then it’s a fall snowstorm.
Or at least that is what it has been in the past. This year the recurring theme – rather than lamenting the end of summer — is: “What is going to happen when the kids go back to school?”
Tuesday (Sept. 8) is the first day of school for our grandchildren in Grand Haven. The district had postponed an August start. The grandkids in Paw Paw started Aug. 31, and the grandchildren in California started (online) Aug. 24. A niece who teaches in Spring Lake started a hybrid classroom Aug. 26. Colleges are dealing with the spread of the COVID virus among students and at my alma mater in mid-Michigan students are protesting face-to-face classes.
It’s not your typical start to the school year.
I will confess both King (a retired school administrator) and I have a lot of reservations about the start of school. King is glad he does not have to deal with it on a professional level and we are both concerned for our children and grandchildren.
Meanwhile our life at the campground continues. King and I are watching the weekend numbers slowly dwindle. I think the few trailers that are still here during the week are workers who travel the country to work when nuclear plants have their “outages” or maintenance on the facilities. Specialists come in to work the “outages” – traveling from nuclear plant to nuclear plant and living in the area for the month or two the plants are down/out/not powering or whatever you want to call it.
The Palisades plant in South Haven is currently having an “outage.” The plant is actually closing permanently at some point, but that date appears to be a moving target. Since I no longer work in a newsroom, I don’t pay much attention. Maybe that makes me uncaring? Or maybe I’m distracted by other things.
Ahh life goes on.
On a personal level, just as school resuming has caught us by surprise, so too has the reality that in two months King and I will be on the road again. We are waiting for the official date of the last golf scramble to determine our actual departure date. Retirement allows for that kind of flexibility.
But it is not as if our pending departure has taken us totally by surprise. In July I went online at the Secretary of State website to make an appointment for the trailer title transfer and discovered the earliest I could get in was November. That’s kind of not acceptable. I’ve been told I can call the day before and try for a next day appointment. I keep putting it off a day of being on hold – I guess I’d better get to it.
The trailer also needs tires. King doesn’t think so. In the past I would just get up one day, hook up the trailer and have it done. Unfortunately it’s no longer something I can simply drive off and do. If we still had a back yard with a trailer in it, I might get away with it. As it is now King might notice the trailer being missing or it moving down the road while he is sleeping in it.
Small details, but I’ve always been able to figure a way around things or do what I want and listen to him complain about it in a off-handed way: “We could be going out to dinner tonight but you spent our money on new tires.” Those who know King see the humor in that statement. We never go out to dinner. My daughter has to tell him, “Take Mom out for dinner on Mother’s Day. Big Boy or McDonald’s does not count.”
And the truck… the “Check 4-wheel drive” light has been on since the fuel pump went out in Tulsa on our way home this spring. At the insistence of our son, and against the wishes of King, I took it in to have the differentials checked in June. The repair person said the differentials were fine and he was pretty sure the warning light was something that had been disconnected when they dropped the engine to replace the fuel pump. I’m guessing that light can’t be ignored much longer either. Points, plugs and warning lights are also on our “to do” list.
In the grand scheme of things these are small, petty annoyances. There are so many worse things going on right now. By the end of October they will be taken care of or we will have justified not doing them. It will all work out in the end.
In the meantime, enjoy what is left of your summer, or fall, or whatever you wish to call it. And may all your annoyances be small ones.
