Cool Changes

Summertime is a great time because the wintertime rules become much more flexible, the daylight hours are longer, I'm out of college for the summer, I have a part-time job umpiring baseball games, and I have a pass to Raging Rivers Water Park.

My best friend, Mike, and I go to the waterpark about every other day, and it's a great way to make new friends (of the female persuasion). In the evening hours I umpire a couple of games or play on the Legion team. We are 7-0 on the season and life looks good at this time.

My home life is great because I'm never home! Both of my parents are in college this summer. There are less confrontations, less hassles, less conflicts. Everyone is busy doing what they want to do, and life is going along smoothly. Even my younger brother isn't much hassle because he has a new computer game that keeps him busy 24-7.

Now this isn't really an article about getting along with your blended family, especially, but an article about how nice it is when everyone has their own agendas and how smooth life goes when everyone is happy. If we'd just realize that we are part of a large machine, and if all the parts run smoothly, the machine keeps running. If one of the parts gets out of line or doesn't have enough grease (attention, things to do), then it causes problems and the machine slows or breaks down. Every machine (and family) needs to spend time giving attention (maintenance) to their parts, so it's important to still communicate no matter how busy your lives are. It is important to touch base and make sure everything is going okay with other family members, and to contribute your part to the daily running of the machine (maintenance). If we do this, we can expect the machine -- and the family to run together smoothly for a very long time.

Have a good summer. Stay busy but give yourself time to relax. And above all -- be sure to wear sunscreen.

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