> SOUTHERN INDIANA — As you grow older you start to realize that life is finite and it seems like many things operate on a sort of quota system. You only have so many birthdays, Christmases or trips to Disney World in your lifetime. Public radio storyteller Garrison Keillor says that we are also allotted only so many perfect days. This notion that we have a predetermined rationed amount of things may sound rather pessimistic, but armed with this perspective, people may be in a better position to take advantage of opportunities, when they arise and assure that they don’t squander their share.

Recently, I have been thinking about this in terms of my dieting. I’ve wondered if we are only allotted so much of every sort of food stuff in our lifetimes. Except for a few notable interludes, I have technically been on some sort of diet, or another, since about 1978. For the past five years I haven’t eaten any sweets or foods that contain obvious sugar. Recently, I decided to up the ante and also cut out starches, and perhaps most difficult of all for me, artificial sweeteners, including diet soft drinks. When I see some foods that I’m sure I will never eat again, I wonder if that is because I have already eaten my quota. Take potatoes, milk shakes and desserts for example. I probably ran through my milk shake quota before I was 15 years old. My parents should never have bought that darn blender. By the time I was 25 I had eaten more than my share of  desserts and I guess that I may have exhausted my potato allocation sometime toward the end of the last decade.  

I  suspect that if you continue to eat a particular substance, after your assigned portion has been consumed, it can only lead to trouble. Alas, my assigned ration of green leafy vegetables has hardly been touched, so there must be tons and tons of spinach, broccoli and lettuce still available.  

 Like foods, I imagine that summers are also probably rationed in some way. My wife Diane has very strong feelings about the summer season and is always very concerned about wasting it. This probably stems from growing up in Wisconsin, where summers were short-lived and precious. Since we are allocated only so many summers, it does seem tragic to lose even one. I’m afraid, however, that it is becoming abundantly clear that this one is going to be a “lost summer.”

Several factors figure into this unhappy assessment:

1. The Boat Situation: For the past several summers we have spent a lot of time on our modest pontoon boat at a nearby lake. Unfortunately last year, my lack of boating knowledge finally took its toll and I managed to completely burn up our outboard motor. Over the winter our boat repair man found us another motor, but before he could install it, disaster followed disaster and the motor was destroyed in an explosion that burned down his repair shop. In a freak accident involving a fall off a ladder, spilt gasoline and a spark from a battery charger, our boat repair man was rendered unconscious and only survived the incident by the grace of God and due to some capable first responders. A few years ago his shop was also totally destroyed, that time by hurricane force winds. It’s almost as if he killed an albatross or something.

2. Diane’s Surgery: In late June Diane had major surgery and although she has made a remarkable recovery, her recuperation has greatly limited her activities. Most tragic for her is the doctor’s order prohibiting swimming for three months. She grew up just four  blocks from Lake Michigan, and summer was nothing without swimming.   

Even if our boat was operational, Diane is in no shape to assume her usual boating duties. When we put the boat up for the day, her assigned job was to crawl into the stifling heat, under the boat cover, to set up the support poles, while I waited outside fastening snaps and standing ready to pull her out if she fainted.

3. The Hellish Heat Wave: The record-breaking temperatures, and frequent air quality alerts, make it almost impossible to do anything outside. Any sort of sports, exercise or yard work is out of the question. Even out on the water, the situation is dangerous. Getting stranded, always a likely possibility in our boat, can be literally life-threatening in this kind of heat.

4. The Depressing Drought: The drought this summer has done more than just kill crops, grass and flowers. It has also lowered water levels throughout the region. The rainwater pond in front of our house is now completely dry and many of the lake beaches we’ve visited in the past are closed due to the low water levels. Also the water in many lakes is so low that running a ground or hitting previously submerged logs or trees is a constant danger.

For the Stawars it may be time to just write this summer off as a lost cause and turn up the air conditioner, make another pitcher of unsweetened ice tea and see if there’s finally anything worth watching on Netflix.



Terry L. Stawar, Ed.D., lives in Georgetown and is the CEO of LifeSpring, the local community mental health center in Jeffersonville. He can be reached at tstawar@lifespr.com. Checkout his Welcome to Planet-Terry blog and podcast at www.planetterry.wordpress.com.