Happy Tuesday! Today is your excuse to indulge! National Junk Food Day celebrates all the delicious treats we usually try to avoid. Sometimes, a little cheat day is exactly what we need. If calories didn’t count today, what junk food would you choose?
In This Issue: The Last Long Day | Deal of the Week | Display Port to HDMI Converter | Meraki Network Products | News to Start Your Week
The CK Weekly – The Last Long Day
There is something bittersweet about the end of summer.
The sun still hangs high for a little while longer, but you can feel the season quietly packing its bags. The long evenings that never seemed to end are suddenly measured by school calendars instead of sunsets. The spontaneous adventures become scheduled practices. The house that echoed with late-night laughter slowly returns to alarms, lunches, homework, and bedtimes.
For a few months, life feels wonderfully untethered.
There are no clocks to race. No backpacks waiting by the door. No nightly reminders about unfinished assignments. Just long days with my wife and our kids; days that seem ordinary while they’re happening but somehow become extraordinary the moment you realize they’re coming to an end.
I’ll miss that.
I’ll miss hearing, “Can we stay out a little longer?” knowing there wasn’t really a reason to say no. I’ll miss the movies that started too late, the dinners that stretched into conversations, and the feeling that tomorrow could be whatever we wanted it to be.
But seasons are meant to change.
As one chapter closes, another begins. Summer fades, and with it comes a different kind of beautiful chaos.
Football cleats will dig into the turf. Soccer balls will roll across the pitch. Softballs will crack off the bat and soar over the diamond. Calendars will fill with practices, games, meetings, and school events until there doesn’t seem to be a blank square left.
It will be busy.
It will be loud.
It will probably be exhausting.
And somehow, in all of that chaos, we’ll find ourselves together in new ways.
We’ll trade lazy afternoons for sideline conversations. We’ll exchange backyard evenings for folding chairs under stadium lights. Our family dinners may happen between practices instead of around a table, but they’ll still happen. The togetherness doesn’t disappear; it simply changes shape.
I’ve learned that every season asks something different of us. Summer asks us to slow down. Autumn asks us to show up. Both are gifts.
As this new season begins, I’m trying to hold onto one simple truth: I don’t have to have everything figured out.
Not because life will unfold exactly the way I imagine it, but because I believe there is peace in trusting the One who already knows the road ahead. Faith isn’t believing every game will end in a win or every day will go according to plan. Faith is trusting that even the unexpected has purpose.
So instead of trying to control every outcome, I’m learning to simply be present. Present for the early mornings, the late-night homework, the victories worth celebrating, the disappointments worth talking through, and every ride home after practice.
When I look at my children, I don’t just see the athletes they’re becoming. I see young people growing into the best versions of themselves. Every sprint across the football field, every run down the soccer pitch, and every inning on the softball diamond teaches resilience, teamwork, humility, and perseverance. Years from now, I probably won’t remember every final score or championship, but I’ll remember who they became in the process.
That’s what really matters.
So as summer quietly slips away, I won’t try to hold onto it too tightly. I’ll be grateful for what it gave us, and I’ll welcome what’s coming next.
Because every ending carries the promise of a beginning. Every season has its own beauty. And every step forward, no matter how chaotic it may seem, is another opportunity to grow together, to love each other well, and to trust that we’re exactly where we’re meant to be.
Here’s to the end of summer.
And here’s to the beautiful, busy season waiting just around the corner.
Thanks for listening to my TED Talk!
Matthew
Deal of the Week
Product Spotlights & Updates
This adapter will take a dual-mode Display Port signal and convert that signal to standard HDMI v1.3. This converter handles all the switching necessary to accept AC coupled signals and is handled automatically. The lead on this adapter is 6″ making it ideal for compact, tight installations.
Learning Center Article – Meraki Network Products – Simplify Your Network
When it comes to industrial and enterprise networking, hardware solutions often create as many new problems as they solve. Networks get so complicated that scalable designs often devolve into a jumbled mess. Cisco Meraki offers an incredible solution to this problem. Through the use of powerful automation features and a suite of devices that are designed to work well together, these products might prove to be the best way to manage many business networks.
Today’s News to Start Your Week:
- Robot cats bring comfort to people with dementia.
- Head of US AI safety agency resigns.
- Novo Nordisk sues Eli Lilly over weight loss drug advertisement.