Ahhh ... Summer time: You mean I'm supposed to relax?

School is over. Spring sports all wrapped up. Time to relax, right?

I wish.

Tis the season of my favorite string of comments and questions from those outside the sports information realm.

"So, I guess you're happy everything's over and you can now take it easy."

"How are you liking it now with everything slowed down?"

"Guess you've got a lot of free time on your hands these days, huh?"

It is true things are quieter in the summer with no games to work and/or cover, but life is never dull in June and July. This is the time of the year we SIDs wrap up everything from the previous sports year while gearing up for the upcoming 9-10 marathon once more.

It is a vicious cycle we live in.

Yet, summer is the time for fun and creativity. I love to use this time to develop new ideas and tinker and play with ideas to see what can be improved upon and/or enhanced within our office.

This summer, however, is a bit more hectic for me than most. Of course, I've got the normal summer office grind, but as of July 1, I will also be the conference SID for the Appalachian Athletic Conference. In addition, I working on two independent studies for graduate school as well as preparing to teach a sports writing class in the fall.

I am seriously putting my organizational skills to the test, especially my time management abilities given that I rarely write to-do lists and timelines of when things need to be done. In the past, I've always relied on my steel-trap mind, but with SO MANY tasks to juggle, an organized outline and timeline is the way to survive.

It is really amazing things I have taken on this summer. Yet, I am doing what I can to maintain balance, sanity and family time.

First, I work at home two days a week. I have a great athletic director who allows me to do this, and I am very grateful for this. While I spend much of the day on my laptop working on projects, this allows me to be home with my kids all day.

Also, I stay off the laptop, especially for work-related items, after 5:30 p.m. if not sooner. The evenings are for family time as are the weekends. I spend very little time working on Saturday and Sunday.

It is easy to still work ourselves to death during the summer. After all, it's important to our survival during the school year that we get a jump on things and be as prepared as we can be.

But it is also imperative that we rest and spend time with the ones we love.

The days of getting 2-4 hours of sleep a night and going 5-6-7 weeks (or possibly months) in a row without a day off will be here soon enough.

Roses are in bloom. Stop. Smell them.