My fondest memory of Summer ’08 is when I hit the Powerball, quit my job and moved to Tahiti. But when the alarm clock goes off and the memory vaporizes, I prepare my nose for another day at the grindstone.

I never play the lottery, but according to the math, my chances of winning are about the same as everyone else’s.

My second fondest memory is my daily ritual after work. On the way home I buy frozen Coke’s for my wife and son, so they’re always glad to see me.

Then I feed my dogs and cat. They‘re always glad to see me too. Next, it’s time to kick off the work boots, sit back and smoke my pipe – which my wife claims is a thoroughly disgusting habit, and doesn’t let me do it in the house.

I mean I choose not to smoke in the house.

So I grab my antique, second-hand laptop, a handful of peanuts, a chilled beverage and retire to the front porch to recline on wicker lawn furniture and check my email. The nuts are for the squirrels. They’re always glad to see me too.

I live in a quiet neighborhood on Underwood Street with pleasant neighbors. They’re not always glad to see me. They keep finding peanuts and peanut shells in their potted plants.

While online, I read about how it’s been getting cooler. I can’t help but chuckle at the chicken-littles who had to change their alarm from “global warming” to “climate change” because weather patterns contradict their forecasts. But they insist that the world is still going to end, and the Emperor is still wearing dazzling clothes.

You can’t see them if you haven’t been to college.

From my front porch, the weather has been spectacular all summer long; not too hot, not too humid, nor too rainy. And because of that, though I didn’t take a vacation, and there were no monumental personal events, it’s been a fabulous summer for chilling out and watching the world go by.

Mike VanOuse

Lafayette