Yesterday was the longest day of the year. It a the solstice. The first day of summer. The good news is that you get extra sunlight to enjoy outdoor activities. The bad news is that days start getting shorter.
It was also your Mother's birthday. I know that every "offspring" remembered her birthday which made her very happy. There were even a few gifts.
Some "brain-trust" group of medical scientists developed a formula that takes into account human emotional and physical cylces. They calulated using calculus that June 20 is the happiest day of the year. So Grasshoppers, your mom was born on the happiest day of the year. This whole idea is predicated on the assumption that you can calculate happiness using a mathematical formula. Yeah, right!
We decided to visit the Fireside yesterday in Fort Atkinson. I knew that the southern part of the state had been hit hard with rain storms a week ago and that flooding was causing serious problems. Several areas, like Jefferson, Wisconsin were applying for national disaster relief.
I figured when I made reservations a week ago that flooding caused by the rain would subside and travel would be "normal". Even after a week of sun and nice conditions, southern areas were still under water. Our trip takes us through Jefferson. Not yesterday. We had to take a detour. I had looked at the map and decided not to follow the normal detour and find my own shorter route. I found a convoluted county road. It was like driving through the Kettle Moraine. It was scenic. It seemed to take forever. My comment to your Mom was "that we seem to have to have found the serendipidous route". She lit up like a Christmas tree. She liked the word "serendipidous". It seems many of her adventures in the car are serendipitous. Her suggestion was that would should take this route again some day. Yeah, right. It tooks us 15 miles out of our way.
The highlight of our trip to Fort Atkinson was entering the city from the only open road into town (we had to come in from the east). Fort Atkinson has also applied for federal disaster relief because the Rock River overflowed it banks and flooded the highways. As we entered Fort Atkinson, Highway 106 was lined with sandbags on both sides of the road and water was 1-2 feet above road level but the sandbags and pumps were keeping water off the road. It is an erie feeling driving with water "along-side" your car at levels that would flood your engine if the sandbags broke. The highway itself was almost dry because pumps were keeping water away and the sun was so strong.
So we zipped in to Fort Atkinson between the sandbags. It was like Moses parting the sea. Happy, happy, happy. We were approaching the promised land.
The lesson Grasshoppers is that life is what you make it. If you want to believe June 20, is the happiest day of the year, go ahead. It is your Mother's birthday. What could be happier than that?
Love,
Dad