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Summer time is family time

My management style is to make the rounds, trying to chat with our leaders every day, seeing how I can help solve their problems.

Almost always, the conversation starts with me asking something about their personal life: How was your weekend? How did this go? How is that person doing?

This time of year, I sense quite a theme — family.

From Mother’s Day to Memorial Day to Father’s Day to the Fourth of July, we tend to value family more this time of year. Picnics, barbecues, reunions, vacations, ballgames, you name it. This is high time for family, and I always love seeing people light up when they talk about the great recent times they’ve had with loved ones.

In my house growing up, holidays were always about family, and, as my brother and I became adults, those weekends were about us returning home for delicious dinners, epic card games, long-and-winding walks, and other excursions.

In the past year, the dynamic in my family has changed, with my parents and in-laws both moving into the area.

Now, our house has become the staging ground for many family events — just last weekend, we filled Father’s Day by baking and grilling, yard game marathons, bonfires, and plenty of time on the patio.

It was all good, with both sides of the family, including my father’s dear cousin from the Cleveland area, joining us, a highlight for all being watching four cousins play together until they dropped Saturday night.

For me, the sense of family was hammered home at a local golf course in the morning, where my dad and brother converged for a quick nine holes. My dad is an intermittent golfer at best, something my brother and I have become since we’ve had families and jobs with increasing responsibilities.

But Andrew and I enjoy every time we go out, and were thrilled when our dad said he’d be joining us. It didn’t matter what each of us scored. We all hit some good shots, all hit some bad shots, and all lost a ball or two.

But the conversation, the time together and the enjoyment of two-and-a-half hours focused on our relationship was golden. At the course, we noticed many other fathers and sons/daughters playing, smiles outweighing the number of times we heard the word “fore.”

After all had left Sunday evening, we informally suggested our place should be the new tradition for Father’s Day weekend. I can see golf becoming part of that tradition — hopefully our older daughters can join us next year.

I’ve been blessed with great friends my whole life, and have had to make new ones in multiple cases as I’ve moved to a new place. Friendship is one of those things that simply makes life better.

But family is there through the thick and thin, no matter what. I love what family has become now that I’m a parent of my own — we take care of raising our children, while our parents, siblings, nieces and nephews simply enhance the lives of us all.

Summer weekends are a great time to celebrate family, and I’m glad to see so many people doing exactly that.

I hope you’re spending upcoming time on reflecting on the blessings that family brings alongside some good food, good music, or a good competitive game.

Jeremy Speer, an Alpena native, is the publisher of The Courier in Findlay, Ohio, the Sandusky (Ohio) Register, The Advertiser-Tribune in Tiffin, Ohio, the Norwalk (Ohio) Reflector and Review Times in Fostoria, Ohio. He can be reached at jeremyspeer@thecourier.com.

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