“Everything good, everything magical happens between the months of June and August.

–Jenny Han

“If I had my way, I’d remove January from the calendar altogether and have an extra July instead.

—Roald Dahl

Ah, summer. If I had my way, it would never end. Call me crazy, but I relish the 100 degree-plus days of Kansas summers. It is a time to rekindle that sense of freedom we all felt when we had the summers off from school.

While I haven’t been back to school in exactly thirty years this fall, and my boys haven’t been on a back-to-school routine for five years, the end of summer still feels to me like I have lost that feeling of freedom. I suppose that feeling will never quite go away.

September First, although it may still be 100 degrees-plus, feels like the official end of summer for me. I always feel a little blue on this day, but this year, there was another reason to feel sad. Jimmy Buffett, the immortal, lovable beach musician, passed away that day. Jimmy Buffett, the icon who personified the endless summer, died on September First.

May we all keep summer alive in his honor. As I write, it’s almost five-o’-clock…but as we already know from Jimmy, “It’s five-o’-clock somewhere.”

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Gail, Suzanne and I each had our own adventures this summer. Suzanne and her husband went to South Dakota, Branson and Colorado.

Gail’s entire family had a grand vacation in Big Sky Country.

I spent a few days in Oklahoma City at the National Auctioneer’s Convention.

On the way home, I got to spend the evening with my dear college friends–one of them has been a friend since kindergarten.

My husband and I made a few trips to Des Moines to see family, but I couldn’t talk him into this detour. Good thing I went there several years ago with a friend.

That is a girl thing, I know. My friend who accompanied me there also joined me on a trip to the beautiful American Southwest. We spent five days and nights in the mountains near Taos, New Mexico.

I will never tire of this view of Red River, New Mexico.

In honor of our mom and her favorite saint, Saint Francis, who is now our favorite saint as well, we visited the historic San Francisco de Asis Church in Rancho de Taos. Her favorite flower, the sunflower, was abundant there as well, just as it was in Kansas.

Speaking of our dear mother, she always told us to always have something to look forward to. That tidbit has helped me through many dark days; it always help me keep hope alive for better days ahead.

And, if you keep that hope and do the work, they always come.

Which is why Gail, Suzanne and I will be reaching cruising altitude Tuesday morning before most of you are out of bed. We kept the hope, did the work and will be returning to our beloved St. Pete Beach in Florida until Sunday.

As if all the gallivanting I mentioned above wasn’t enough (it’s not), together, we are taking the epic trip of an endless summer.

It has been seven years since the three of us took a beach trip together. It is time. It is past time. The maiden post on this blog, aptly titled The Sister Lode, was published on June 16th, 2017. Six years ago, 190 posts ago. It details our first beach trip to St. Pete Beach. You may want to go back for a refresher course on why we are still blogging, adventuring, gallivanting, laughing, sister-ing and peace-ing. It’s what we do.

And if the same bartenders, hosts and security personnel are working our favorite joints there, they will very likely remember Gail, even though it has been seven years. That’s all I’m going to say about that. If you know Gail, I’m sure you can imagine the stories. If you don’t know Gail, imagine them anyway, because they’re probably not far from the truth.

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The end of summer in Kansas has our state flower showing off again; it never fails to do so every year.

We are Kansas girls. We always will be at heart, no matter where we travel to. The Sunflower State is our home, but the beach is once again calling and we must go. The Seven-Year-Itch needs to be scratched, and we are going to do just that. The endless summer will live on for us in the heat and humidity of the Sunshine State.

As always, we won’t tell all, but we will post what we want you to know in two weeks. Stay tuned.

“If there’s a heaven for me, I’m sure it has a beach attached.” –Jimmy Buffett