Reflections on my summer spent

Summer is over and so is my “transition time” from my deployment. I’ve now been home for five months and the entire family is settling into a routine.

Foremost, both of our kids are now in school.

Our baby boy reported for duty at his first day of Pre-K yesterday and I think he was handling it better than my wife and me. No tears, no fits, no second looks as he went straight for the building blocks and introduced himself to his new school mates. Same for my daughter, who has now entered the 2nd grade and is as concerned with recess as she is with her spelling list.

Watching both of my kids climb into the mini-van with their school bags got me to thinking of the timeless ritual so many of us took part in during our first days back to school: reporting on “what we did this summer”.

Now in my case, I spent this summer becoming a member of my household again and relearning all of the things that a year in Iraq had erase from your psyche. But mainly, I spent my summer getting reacquainted with my wife and kids.

One example of this was when we all went to the town of Turin, GA (a few miles down the road from our house) for their annual Tractor Pull and Parade. Mara and the kids had went last summer while I was away and the kids had a great time looking at tractors of all sizes, so it was a done deal that we would all go again as a family this year.

The festival was held outside and consisted of actual local farmers using their tractors to pull this enormous sled contraption weighed down with cement blocks as far and as fast as they could.

I’m sure many of you are chuckling at the idea of attending such an event and certain images are filling your heads.

I won’t lie to you; there was a certain degree of “Hee Haw” included throughout the event. And I did find myself suppressing a laugh when a young lady took a seat in front of me and I noticed that she had a terrible sun burn, complete with peeling skin and blisters, right on the top of her back. I almost laughed when I realized that this girl, who was enthralled with the tractor pulling competition, was suffering literally from a “red neck”.

But I’ll tell you this, there were many things I did NOT see at the tractor pull: such as, I did NOT see any alcoholic beverages, I did NOT see anyone using foul language, I did NOT see any trouble makers, and I did NOT see the local police (who were well represented throughout the crowd) have to get involved in any way.

In fact, what I did see throughout this event was a lot of multi-generational families enjoying themselves and spending time together in a very wholesome atmosphere. Families that took part in a picnic style lunch as the events progressed.

Now, I might just be playing deviled eggs’ advocate here, but I can’t think of a more nourishing setting than a picnic for me and my family to spent time together and make up for lost time.

If you had asked me a year ago if I would have enjoyed going to a tractor pull, chances are I probably would have said “no”. But then again, a year ago, I was in Iraq and away from my family, so finding any event that will allow me to spend time with them in a clean and fun environment is a God send. Now if you ask me a year from now if I would enjoy going to a tractor pull, there’s no doubt in my mind that I will be saying “yes” (just be sure to bring some SPF 15 for your neck).