The End of Summer

The best time of year for some.

The End of Summer

The beach is clear. I have at least 200 yards of smooth, clean sand on either side as does the next person. Most vacationers have gone home, the kids are in school, it's 9am and I'm sitting ten feet from the surf. There is blue sky, strong sun and eighty-five degree salt water that rolls in lazy, two or three foot swells, perfectly formed breakers curl not far out. Off-season is here but the end of summer weather sure isn't.

Coffee, swim, read, repeat – that’s the plan for the next five hours.

As morning progressed rain followed the shoreline toward my spot. Those of us looking can see the entire front, the tops of the clouds are sunlit, fluffy and bright, happily white, they're darker and thicker as you look down and then thick haze close to the ground. It's moving steadily but not quickly, there's some time left before it's here.

After a short swim to knock the sun's heat back the beach population is even sparser than it was, there is only myself and a couple other older folks down the beach. The smell of rain is strong and the opaque line is close.

I have an extremely important, truly critical decision to make.

Should I get out of the rain?

I reviewed my plan.
Rain is out of scope but nevertheless has to be dealt with.
I performed a risk assessment and developed mitigating actions.
I vetted the mitigating actions.
I defined additional effort and assessed the effect on the original timeline.
I checked and modified the budget, adjusting for each mitigating action.
I evaluated the cost/risk and considered my risk tolerance.
I checked for outstanding issues and found none.
Finally, a detailed check of the updated plan.

After careful analysis the decision is made.

What the hell.

I’m already wet.

It was a fantastic, all encompassing warm rain. The kind with big drops falling straight down replacing sweat with fresh water running down your face and off your nose. To add to the entertainment there was lightning a few miles out – sudden, clear bolts going straight to the water, I see it, wait for thunder and the next bolt.

The rain moved on and left a gray, wet and breezy beach. An elderly mom and her daughter walked by, “Wasn’t that great!”. Mom was a marginally older than myself and her daughter was marginally younger. We talked for a few minutes. It was a moment of our own. We were all older persons who, after decades of avoiding rain, could just sit and enjoy this one.

We didn’t need to run for cover. We didn’t have to concern ourselves with going into work soaked, doing errands in the rain with kids or keeping a baby dry while running into the house. We didn’t need to worry about soaked feet or wet grocery. We let it rain and let the sun dry us when the rain was done. The three of us understood how great the last hour had been.

It’s the end of summer, the beginning of off-season, the best time of the year.