air and sunlight
October 3, 2025 – 7:30 am
Near 80 degrees the next couple days. That’s grand. I’ll enjoy it at the lake. Burn the last of the gas out of the waverunners. Toss a line into the water. Pretend to read from my lounge chair. Nap under the brim of my baseball cap.
Oh, there’s work to be done. Always is. But work at the lake is different than work anywhere else. It doesn’t feel like work at all.
All this talk about nice weather. A beautiful fall. But my gut knows better. Mother Nature’s setting us up for a big, nasty winter. And I’m looking forward to it. My plan now—still so far away from the ice and snow and cold—is to take it head on. With boots and gloves. Shovel and snowblower. Four new all-terrain tires on the Defender.
It’s easy to feel unstoppable so early in a new day. One cup of coffee boosting me.
But suddenly, I wonder what the kids are doing.
One should be in class by now. Finished up with breakfast. Done walking the loop with her boyfriend. Young. In love. High school homecoming on the way. Two part-time jobs fueling college dreams that wait on the horizon while she lives wide-open. Excited by the infinite choices between today and tomorrow.
The other is soaking up sleep in his dorm before Friday classes. Something new, he says—these Friday classes. For whom, I’m not sure. I don’t question it. I know he’ll fill his day no matter what. Part-time job. Studies. Working out. He’s on the path he’s charted. Devoted to figuring it out.
She’s sixteen. He’s nineteen. They’ve got the world by the balls. And here I am just trying to make the most of the time I have left.
And it’s moments like these when I’m alone with words, mulling thoughts, that I feel the best. My happiness. Even when the sentences seem sad.
Realize today how good you got it. That there are people in your life to care about. Think of them. Remember them. Look forward to seeing them. Especially when they come to you in air and sunlight while you’re hiding away. Just for a few minutes. At the lake. Napping under the brim of your baseball cap.
~ KJ
