The first week of August...

"The first week of August hangs at the very top of summer, the top of the live-long year, like the highest seat of a Ferris wheel when it pauses in its turning. The weeks that come before are only a climb from balmy spring, and those that follow a drop to the chill of autumn, but the first week of August is motionless, and hot. It is curiously silent, too, with blank white dawns and glaring noons, and sunsets smeared with too much color."
- Natalie Babbitt, Tuck Everlasting

Welcome to the first week of August! As a child born in summer, I knew that I would turn older at its end. Chronologically, yes. But more in the real sense that I would strut into my grade school older - knowing that there was going to be, yet again, one more additional level of kids that will be even younger, more different, and more uncertain than me. It was the first day of school when I really knew I was older and that my summer was over.

"Summer will end soon enough, and childhood as well."
- George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones

Yep, Summer is almost over. Sorry about that. Really sorry. But even though Summer's Ferris wheel is lowering down, there is still time to squeeze in one more book, one more outdoor movie, one more drippy popsicle, one more moment of connection to a cloud that only you can recognize as you lie on the grass under your tree, one more terrible-tasting amalgamation of bug spray and sunscreen, one more long solo bike ride that ends with the real-world dusky call for "dinner, shower, and bedtime, you've got school tomorrow!" ...and, yeah, maybe just one more 'selfie' tagged 'BEST SUMMER EVERRRR!!!'.

"Summer, after all, is a time when wonderful things can happen to quiet people. For those few months you're not required to be who everyone thinks you are, and that cut-grass smell in the air and the chance to dive into the deep end of a pool give you a courage you don't have the rest of the year. You can be graceful and easy, with no eyes on you, and no past. Summer just opens the door and lets you out."
- Deb Caletti, Honey, Baby, Sweetheart

There are still more moments for you to be let out. Do what cold things do in summer: Blow off some steam! "When life gets rough, I like to hold on to my dream, of relaxing in the summer sun, just lettin' off steam. Oh the sky will be blue, and you guys'll be there too, when I finally do what frozen things do, in summer!" "
- Olaf, the snowman, in 'Frozen'.

So here's to the last days of summer! And a HUGE thanks to our core church staff who have held the fabric of communication and activity together as church staff most often take their work trips and vacations in the month of July. The church team has also experienced some family hardships during this time. They have worked together with a high level of personal understanding, effort and joyful hearts. As members, our memories will soon blend in to the next season when we will respond to that real-world dusky call as a church family that will find itself a year older, more diverse, and full of more questions to work through together.

Warmest Regards,
Tilman