My Midsummer Birthday

My third birthday, 1984

I got my last diploma seven years ago, but my internal calendar still revolves around the school year.

It doesn't make any sense, I know. After all, I no longer get three months of carefree vacation when the calendar flips to June. In fact, this year I'm waiting to take the first of my vacation days in mid-September.

Even so, July 15 still marks not only my birthday, but also the halfway point of summer. The middle day of the middle month of the summer: I've always enjoyed the symmetry of that.

Of course, summer isn't the same for me now. The 9-year-old me looked forward to swimming in the pond with our neighbors, biking "around the block" (which in rural Defiance, meant a four-mile ride) and going on vacation. My newly-minted 29-year-old self doesn't like the beach and doesn't have a bike because I have nowhere to store it. Oh, and I take vacations in the fall and the winter to avoid the crowds of kids.

I'm not complaining. I wouldn't go back if I could.

Except for those three months of vacation.