Summer Winds

Then I moved to Florida.

Now winter is my favorite time of year. Very few things in this world beat winters in South Florida. Cool breezes, bright sunshine, few gray days. And oh, those palm trees. They are not only aesthetically pleasing, they make a statement: welcome to paradise.

Still, my relationship with summer became complicated when I moved to Florida in July 1987.

When I lived in New York, I got used to hibernating during the winter months.

Summer was what I lived for: no school, no alarm clocks, days spent with my friends playing tennis and one wall racquetball, days at the beach with a boom box and nights spent under street lamps with neighborhood kids just passing time and goofing off. Shorts and t-shirts, summer songs, summer romance and muscle cars. (I had a friend who thought an AMC Pacer was a muscle car. It wasn’t. )

Ahh…summer.

But when I moved to Florida, things flipped. Summer was when I hibernated. Winter is when we rediscovered the outdoors.

It took a few years to get used to this new paradigm.

This summer, I made it a point to sneak away to Maine where I rediscovered my love of summer.

It’s been a busy season of life. My work at the Carl Angus DeSantis Foundation ramped up just as my playwriting took off with my first Off Broadway production. Now I say that as if there may be more coming. Who knows, but a guy can dream right?

Anyway, it’s been busy and I felt a need to reset, to step away, spend time with family and recharge.

Step away is a relative term. Truth is, I never stepped away.
I remain connected to the office, my email, my zoom calls, my office computer and all the rest. But merely changing where I took those calls and answered my emails did me a world of good.

I’m fortunate to have a supportive team at the office who made this possible. There is nothing like working with a team that makes you feel seen and appreciated. I’m a very lucky guy. The team I work with is stocked with intelligent people with big hearts. That’s not only an advantage for our work in philanthropy but it has filled my heart as well.

I believe that we do our best work when we make room for people to bring their whole selves to the job.

That means we listen closely to their insights and recognize that they are also people with children, elderly parents who need them, outside interests that make them who they are and individuals who need a change of scenery here and there.

Anyway, coming to Maine in August allowed me  to open the windows and shut off the air conditioning. It enabled me to take long walks in the woods, to explore the rocky coast and soak up the charm of small New England towns.

As a result, I fell back in love with summer, spent precious time with my dad and his significant other, enjoyed a long weekend with my sister and spent quality time with my amazing wife.

I wrote a little. Less than I thought I would and less than I hoped.

As mentioned, I stayed connected to the office and our grantees but I ditched the alarm clock, listened to music, read and spent time outside just breathing.

I’m fortunate to be able to do this.

I know others can’t. But if you can, please consider it.

And if you can’t, maybe there are small things you can do to recharge and renew.

Music, a walk, a good book. Nothing radical necessary . Life is rich. It’s also fragile and finite. Make the most of the quality time remaining.