Estimated reading time: 6 minute(s)

Lemme tell you… this has been the longest day of the year in more ways than one! It’s been fantastic, overall, but… definitely long.

We all know that June 21st (or thereabouts) is the longest day of the year, in terms of sunlight, I suppose. That’s the day the sun comes up the earliest and sets the latest. The first day of summer. The summer solstice. Well, I think this particular June 21st, I took that to the extreme.

Yesterday began at 6:30am with my alarm clock going off a few times before I actually knew what time, or even what day it was. It had already been a long week by Wednesday morning (all week I had been a day ahead of myself, cause I guess I packed an extra day in there somewhere). So, though disoriented, I knew I had to get up and get to work since the day was to end early in order to watch a World Cup match with some friends.

I left the house at 8am, after getting a decent amount of work done in the first hour in the office. Wednesday morning, I play basketball with at least one other guy usually. Sometimes two. It’s a fun way to get the heart pumping. Sometimes it’s just me, so I have invented a game that is challenging, fun, and definitely keeps me moving. Today, I had to play that game. My friend did not show up, so it was just me. I ran hard till 8:30am, then headed home.

Cleaning up, showering up, back to work, Bible with the boys, other random things, and I finally got back in the office a little before 10:00am. Nice. We’re still on a good pace. Now, since the days are all blurring together, I don’t recall if it was Tuesday or Wednesday, but one day I lost most of the day to minor tech support calls. It might have been Wednesday because when we left at about 2:45, I knew I would be coming back to the office, for lack of actual accomplishments that morning. I was right. I would have to come back.

So, we headed to the Jones home for some Argentina soccer and food! Laura made empanadas and I made bread, which made awesome little steak sandwiches called “Lomitos”. Nice. We had a great time! It was fun to hang out in the early afternoon. We laid both girls down for naps, and tried to get into the game. OK, first, I’m not all that knowledgeable about soccer… so, not the biggest fan. Second, what in the world?!? That game was like the quintessential lifeless soccer match. It was the reason no one in America watches soccer! (Sorry, Laura…) 🙂 A 0-0 tie. About 3 chances for a goal (COMBINED) the whole game. It was definitely not as exciting as Argentina’s previous SIX-0 drubbing only one game before. Hopefully the next games we get to see will have a little more action… 🙂

We left there about 5pm or so, and headed for Walmart. Time to pick up some baby supplies mostly. Before Walmart though, I ask, “Hey… can we stop by LaBarge Media … I would like to drop this off.” Jen agreed, and said she could feed the baby while I went in. All good. Got to hang with “Uncle” Dave for a bit. That was fun. We never get to see them much anymore…

So, after a brief visit, and a baby refueling, we figured it was time to hit Walmart! We did… and enjoyed a leisurely stroll through the store. All was going fairly well, actually, and we were fascinated to be heading home around 6:15pm or so. We had lunch around 3:30 that day… so we weren’t even really that hungry. What were we going to do???

Well, on the way, I remembered our friends the VanGorders have a little girl who plays softball on Mondays and Wednesdays. “Wanna do that?” I ask Jen. “Sure!” she replies. So, I call them up… turns out the season ended the week prior, “but hey… just come on over to our house!” “Wanna do that?” I ask Jen, “Sure!” she replies. So it’s off to the VanGorders we go.

After more than an hour of swingset fun, baseball tossing, kiddie-pool splashing and sliding, and various other backyard frivolities, we headed for our home. It was after 8pm now. A more normal Campbell family evening time. As we pull in our driveway, we see our neighbors (as well as their other neighbors) chatting on their front porch. Pulling into our spot, we spot more friends out back! It’s a regular party! So, we get out and chat for a while… nice to hook up with friends.

So, after chatting for a time, it was time to get the kids some dinner. Perhaps it was around 8:30 or 8:45 by now. Jen takes the kids in, I get all the stuff in the back of the van. On my second trip to the van to get the rest, I remembered something I wanted to show our friends who were just leaving. So, I take a quick trip to the front yard and see yet another friend we have not seen in a long while… Mrs. Schoenfelder! She’s chatting with our neighbors, so I said hello real quick, and as I was about to head inside, the entire Nichols family (a family of 6) is walking across the street to our house!!!

What in the world?!?! 🙂

We figured out that including a phone call earlier in the day from friends we haven’t seen in a long time, we got to “hang out” with people from EIGHT families that we would not ordinarily hang out with. Whoa! What a social day! 🙂

So that was fun, and left me super charged. I like people. I like being with our friends. So, that was nice. Meanwhile, it’s after nine, and the kids are still trying to finish the quick dinner we put together, while we chat / hang out with the Nichols family. After everything quieted down, it was well past 10pm, and Jen & I get a little quiet time together. We did watch a Star Trek episode, too. A season-ending cliff-hanger!!! So, we have to wait till Netflix sends the other disc to get the rest of the story!!! Argh!!

Well, it was 11:30 or so, and Jen was ready for bed. Me too… but I knew I had lots more work to do. Do I go to sleep now, while tired, and get up early the next day? Or, do I stay up – knowing I will wake up as I get into the work again – and get the stuff done tonight? I couldn’t choose, but kind of by accident I woke myself up enough that I went upstairs to give it a try. Still tired, I came down again for some food and drink. Found it. Consumed it. Started waking up. Played one game of Tecmo Super Bowl (Bills ROUTED Tampa Bay, 51-0. Nice!) Now I was awake!

About 1:00am, I head up to the office, ready to go. I knew what I had to do, so I started getting to it. But, I had email to go through, and some other things to prepare, so by 1:30 I was ready to go. Things started falling together quickly, so I was definitely awake again. That was good! I got everything done that I wanted to (mostly, I guess) by… 5:00am. 🙂 Ha! Another all nighter!!! IT WAS STARTING TO GET LIGHT WHEN I WENT TO BED AT 5:15!!!!!!!!!!

Now that’s a long day…

But wait!!! It gets better!!!!!!!!

TODAY, I got up around 8:30 or so… then at 9… finally got out of bed shortly after 9, and headed for the shower. I felt kinda weird, but knew I had to get the day started. The kids would be up soon. So… today has gone pretty much as a normal day, except it kinda feels like yesterday still. This was just one reallly long Wednesday. Really long.

It’s late, but not too late now. I plan to GO TO BED. 🙂

THAT, is how my longest day of the year has gone so far in 2006.