It’s Wednesday again, somehow that happens with quite a bit of regularity and without prompting. Wednesday follows Tuesday and precedes Thursday, always.

It’s early in the morning and my coffee has yet to take full effect, but it seems as if the past week has been fluid, but when I look back at the daily Instagram photographs, there were distinct events, moments which mattered.

The back yard is in full bloom. My wife’s planning and hard work are evident. My role is garden assistant and enjoyer. Nature has cooperated by providing ample sunshine and rain.

The backyard birds continue to visit the feeders. and I continue to refill them. The squirrels and bunnies continue to tease and taunt (mostly the squirrels) Fern and Ivy.

It’s summertime when an entire week can seem like a single day.

“Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer’s day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time.” – John Lubbock

Of course, there were moments that didn’t make the daily photo – baseball (above), exercise, relationships, volunteering, cleaning my office desk, and the BIG ROCKS.

a purple coneflower blooming in our backyard

Fifi – the B-29, never used in anger, preserved and airworthy

dinner with my wife and my dinner – shrimp tacos

an erratic, a boulder left behind by the last age when the glaciers receeded

Sentient – sometimes i feel like this….

our bunny focused dog, Fern.

BBQ chicken and last night’s dinner

This week marked a milestone of sorts. I crossed over into four weeks. In four weeks, summer concludes, and I am back in school for the umpteenth time – either as an educator or a student or both. Regardless of the purpose of being in school, I am continually learning and growing.

If I had to select a single Instagram post it would be Saturday’s post.

I was volunteering at loaves and Fishes and I heard the distinct sound of a propeller driven aircraft. I looked up to see a B-29 Super-fortress. This airplane and thousands like it turned the tide for the Allies in World War II in the Pacific and in Europe. I did a little bit of research on the specific airplane. Fifi as she is named was one of over 4000 B-29s produced and one of two that are airworthy. Several have been preserved in museums across the world notable are the Enola Gay and Bockscar preserved and on display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia and the National Museum of The United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio, respectively. These two planes dropped the only two atomic weapons used in warfare. I have visited both museums. The planes are a reminder of what we are capable of as humans and science and industry.

I was volunteering with a young man who happened to have been a former student of mine in the 2007-08 school year. I pointed the airplane out to him as it flew over us and tried to explain to him the significance of the airplane, but he didn’t understand. I asked him what he remembered from our class some thirteen years ago – half of his lifetime, and he replied,

“I appreciated how you tried to make your class interesting for us.”

I enjoyed working with him and it only affirmed why I teach middle school.

In four weeks and a day, I am back at school with kids in my classroom. I have today and 25 more to make count in so many ways. Today is gonna be a great day and tomorrow could be a million and six times better, but I am sticking with the present. So, I’d better jump up, jump in, and seize the day. Making the Days Count, one day at a time, focusing on the present with an eye to the past.

What was one moment in the past week or this summer which has stood out for you? Why?

BTW: 1,000,006 times better over 42 days is equal to an excessively big number – 1.0 x 10²⁵² in scientific notation or 1 followed by 252 zeroes. Make my head spin.