~and the answer is, "not much"~

OK~So the summer of 2017 won't be remembered as my best summer ever, but it also doesn't have to be considered the worst one either.  It's kind of in how you look at things I suppose.  I'm trying to keep everything in perspective and when it all comes down to it, that's all a guy can do.

Keep things in perspective.

I'm sure grateful for the good things that have been mine this summer during the hot and dry days along the Red River here in northern Texas.  There have been a bunch of blessings that have been shown to me, even in the sorrow of losing my older sister now nearly 3 weeks ago.  I got to thinking about that today and it was good for me to be reminded of it.

Sometimes we forget, especially when we are still hurting from the loss of a loved one, that there is plenty of good in life. We just have to look for it at times.  I've been doing much searching and reflecting in the days that have gone by.  I smile and my heart feels good to know just what has been given to me.

I've been blessed with the gift of a new job just up the road a ways at a small rural school in Oklahoma.  I'm returning back to the grade level that I've actually spent the most time in during the 4 decades now that I have been a teacher.  You will find my name on the second grade door and if you peek inside while we are there, you will see one happy teacher and hopefully, many happy students too.  God provided the gift of my 40th year of being in the classroom, an attainment that I've been praying to receive many years now.  

So far this summer, Mike and I have been fortunate to have reasonably good health.  Neither of us have to worry about not having medical insurance, even though sometimes it seems like it takes that proverbial "arm and a leg" to pay for it.  If we do get sick or need a doctor's attention, the nearest physician and hospital are only moments away.  Our medicine chest is stocked and shoot, we even have plenty of bandaids for those incidents that render us in need of one.  I'd say we are doing ok.  

There is food in the cupboard, toilet paper on the roll, running water, clean clothes in our closets, and gas in both cars.  We may not have everything we want, but we most surely have everything that we need.  When it all comes down to it, one thing is probably for sure.

What more could we ask for?
Not much.

The summer of 2017 will not be the best one I've ever had.  I refuse to let it be the worst one either.