Dear Reader:

“Estival” is one of my new (friend) words for this summer. It basically means “summery.” And I can’t remember a past summer when we got so summery so fast and then stayed in the fast lane. Perhaps the root word (latin) aestus explains it best….it means “HEAT!” (And Oh Boy!… have we been in the heat!)

Sunday as I left to go to Mt. Pleasant to spend the night and take Rutledge to Vacation Bible School Monday morning I was afraid my tires were going to melt on the interstate asphalt…it was 97 degrees and 104 heat index. This had basically been the trend all last week and weekend.

…Which leads us to the most popular word for summer 2018…oversummer. It originally was used more in a scientific dialect to discuss spores that could survive extremely hot summers by living in higher altitudes. It means to be able to “survive summer” for certain organisms.

However, with the extreme heat waves that just seem to keep coming so far this summer over most of the United States…this “urban” term now , literally, means being sick and tired of the horrible heat and humidity to the point that people are “so oversummer.”

We are ready for it to leave but unfortunately summer, officially, has just begun and long-term weather predictions don’t hold out much hope that these conditions are going to improve radically for the next several months.

So since there isn’t anything we can do immediately about our ‘hotter than hot’ summers…we will just have to find a way to live with them. One way I am doing it is by looking up the 10 happiest words in the English dictionary.

1. LAUGHTER! We are just going to need to find a way to laugh through the hot months and enjoy each other’s company
2. HAPPINESS! Comes from the Old Norse root word ‘happ’ meaning “chance” and “good luck.”
3. MIRTH! Laughter and mirth…use it up for all its worth!
4. JOY: Happiness that stays and doesn’t depend on “chance.”
5. BLISS: A state of contentment…not to be missed!
6. ELATION: A nod and wink or high spirits without even a drink!
7. GLEE: Gladness felt from you and me!
8. EXULTATION: A joyful feeling of being with pal -ELATION!
9. EUPHORIA: Not being uptight…but filled with DELIGHT!
10. JUBILATION: A place for “Woo-hoo’s”….not “Boo-hoo’s!”

So until tomorrow….Hot or not…Let’s all get happy! We are alive and waking up to a new day with a new slate to discover all new possibilities.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Sunday night I ‘hung’ out with the boys…Walsh and Rutledge, in their “bachelor pad.” (While Mollie, Lachlan, and Eloise are in New Hampshire with Mollie’s mom and dad, Marcia and Bruce.) Walsh had to go into work early (I mean early) Monday morning so my job was to get Rutledge up, fed, and delivered to Vacation Bible School.

All Rutledge could talk about, when I got to Mt. Pleasant Sunday afternoon,  was the movie we were going to watch Sunday night (Coco.) He had even asked me to bring pictures of my family…his great-great ancestors because he wants to make a table with their photos on it and place candles on it (like in the movie) so we won’t ever forget anyone’s names.

But before we could start the movie…there was a type of pep rally to kick off Vacation Bible School at the church which ran longer than expected since the children had to register and pick up their t-shirts and surprise bags. We then met Tommy and Kaitlyn for pizza for supper…so by the time we got home it was starting to get dark.

Rutledge was so excited…he tried on his VBS t-shirt to make sure it fit over his pj’s. Thank goodness we got the shirt back off almost immediately because I was the only one that made it to the end of the movie. Let’s hear it for the girls! (I got to sniffle all by myself) Sweet movie…loved it!

Thank goodness, as we looked for the red balloons indicating the rising kindergarteners’s assembly area, a little friend was holding him a seat and then Rutledge began recognizing other children and friends he knew. It was time for mothers and grandmothers to leave…reluctantly. Hope you had a great day Rutledge!