Archive for July, 2008

July 17, 2008

Summertime, And the Living Is … Not Easy. But Good.

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The “dog days” may not hit until August, but you’d never know it around here. The air is heavy, the temperatures high. Each week passes too slowly and too fast at the same time.

Several years ago, when I first joined our organization, there was a tradition of “slow time” in the summers. The nature of the business in which our members work meant that they were at their busiest during the hottest months, and thus our phones at their lightest. Needless to say, that changed a long time ago. Having created an environment where members know they can get the answers they want, when they want them, they are as likely (if not more) to contact us during peak-season as off. And over the last few years, we have created a new tradition of frenzied summer activity given that each fall we typically launch two to three major new programs.

There is no more “slow time” for us, any time. But still, summertime …

I don’t know why, but in the summertime, laughter comes easier. Smiles are quicker. Impromptu meetings form in the hallway. Tales of last night, last weekend, last “Flex Friday” … stories, jokes, even, sure, the occasional gossip. Yesterday I sat in my office trying to finish a project and I heard some staffers down the hall guffawing uproariously for a solid ten minutes. Perhaps some managers feel such a thing is a distraction. Perhaps “unprofessional.” But it made me smile. Made me, in fact, finish what I was doing more quickly so I could find out what was so funny.

Of course, not all is well. The world is still a dangerous place. The economy is shaking. And whoever wins the presidency in November, our country is about to change significantly. (I’m afraid neither side may claim the mantle of “change” exclusively, no matter how much one wishes it could.)

But still, summertime …

Six weeks left til Labor Day, and already this summer I’ve had the chance to spend time with several friends I hadn’t done more than email for years. I’m taking a little class just for fun, and working on a book. Never much of a “vacation” person, I take most of my time in long, luxurious weekends of good friends, movies, restaurants, and exquisite Sunday afternoons next to a stack of library books. The busy workdays go by quickly, but oh — the nights and weekends!

It’s summertime. And yeah, there may be a lot of uncertainty in the world, a lot of unanswered questions, and a lot of pressing deadlines. But there can also be people who make you smile, time to spend how you want, and accomplishments, big or small, to enjoy.

It’s summertime, and life is good, if you let it be.

July 14, 2008

Nod Over Coffee

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Mark Heard recorded the following in 1991. A year later he died suddenly, exactly four months shy of his 42nd birthday.

All the unsaid words that I might be thinking,
And all the little signs that I might give you –
Well, they would not be enough.
No, they would not be enough.

So, we nod over coffee and say goodbye.
Smile over coffee and turn to go.
We know the drill and we do it well,
We love it, we hate it, ain’t that life?

Ain’t that the curse of the second hand?
Ain’t that the way of the hour and the day?

If I weren’t so alone and afraid,
They might pay me what I am worth.
But it would not be enough.
You deserve better.

So, we nod over coffee and say goodbye.
Do whatever has to be done again today.
Get in the traffic and time will fly,
Look at the sun and pray for rain.

Ain’t that the curse of the second hand?
Ain’t that the way of the hour and the day?

The dam of time cannot hold back
The dust that will surely come of these bones.
And I’m sure I will not have loved enough,
Will not have loved enough.

If we could see with wiser eyes
What is good, and what is sad, and what is true;
Still, it would not be enough.
Could never be enough.

So, we nod over coffee and say goodbye.
Bolt the door, it’s time to go.
Into the car with the radio on,
Roll down the window and blow the horn.

Ain’t that the curse of the second hand?
Ain’t that the way of the hour and the day?