***Summer Love

Summer Love By Dr. Charles D. Schmitz and Dr. Elizabeth A. Schmitzr "the marriage doctors" Authors of the “Best Relationship Book of 2008” INDIE Book Awards Gold Medal Winner Golden Anniversaries: The Seven Secrets of Successful Marriage Available at Golde Anniversaries.com, BarnesandNoble.com, and at Bookstores There is something about the summer that encourages love. Maybe it’s the bright summer sun. It could be the warm summer breeze. Maybe it’s the refreshing summer water! Perhaps, it is the summer vacation. And isn’t baseball played mostly in the summer? Whatever the cause, it appears that most people fall in love during the summer and get married during the summer – more than in any other season of the year. In fact, the research data we have collected over the years for our new book, Golden Anniversaries: The Seven Secrets of Successful Marriage, reveals that the months of June, July, August, and September are the most popular months to get married. Needless to say, we have often wondered why. Why all this Summer Love? Recently, we came upon a statement by Simran Khurana that we just love. It goes like this: “Summer has always been considered to be the most romantic of the four seasons. The clear skies, the blazing sun, the gentle summer breeze, and the lazy afternoons flavor the season with passion and warm love.” We think Simran has it right. Summer is the most romantic of the four seasons. The seed of love is planted in the spring, and when it is properly nurtured, it will blossom in the summer. Love can be felt in every corner of the world during the warm summer months. Couples just seem to appear everywhere—holding hands, wrapping each other in hugs, exchanging kisses and fondly gazing into each other’s eyes. Ah, the Summer of Love—there is nothing like it! “Love is to the heart what the summer is to the farmer's year -- it brings to harvest all the loveliest flowers of the soul.” We don’t know the source of this quote but we refer to it often when talking about Summer Love. We are particularly captivated by the notion of harvesting “the loveliest flowers of the soul.” Here’s what we think it means. When Charley was a child, he always marveled at the bountiful harvest his grandparents, uncles, and aunts were capable of bringing forth in the fall of the year. Wheat was beautiful and golden. The corn was ten feet high! The crops they planted and harvested in the rich bottomlands along the Missouri River were simply amazing. But why, he would often ask? What’s so special about this place? Charley quickly learned the answer. Crops planted in the spring and nourished by the rains grew to gargantuan proportions in the rich soil along the river. And by the end of summer, the crops grew tall, they grew healthy, and they were ripe for the harvest. Summer Love shares all of these characteristics. Love springs eternal in the spring and is nourished by the rain. But always remember, it grows under the warm sun of summer! Love comes to fruition in the summer. It grows to gargantuan proportions. Summer makes love ripe for the harvest. Summer is the season of love. It is the Summer of Love. Life is fragile. Life is uncertain. Life is not forever. Love today. Hug someone tonight. In love and life, there is nothing more important than having someone to love, and someone who loves you. Enjoy your Summer of Love. Being in love – there is nothing like it. There is nothing that can trump it. There is nothing more important in life than finding someone to love – someone to truly love. The truth is, if we all had our Summer of Love there would be no violence, no heartbreak, no disaffection, no sco or hate – there would be only love and peace. Go be in love. There is nothing like it. Love well!