With a pug and a baby, we eventually had to retreat to air conditioning. So we headed to West Virginia (the irony that West Virginia had power is not lost on me) to stay with some family (something else we would never have done unless forced.) This turned out to be terrific fun. Who would have thought that getting away from the city and spending time with family could be so relaxing?

Interestingly, this reminds me of an episode of “The Andy Griffith Show.” It often imparted lessons, and one of those lessons was to enjoy the simple things of life — to not let busyness interfere. That was the message of “The Sermon for Today,” where a preacher advises the congregation (including Andy and Barney and the Taylor Family) to just “Relax, slow down, take it easy. What’s your hurry?”

In an effort to follow this advice, the entire town of Mayberry gets caught up in nostalgia for the days when the town used to put on band concerts (“that was relaxing, wasn’t it?”). This ultimately leads them to get the band back together, repair the band uniforms, build bandstands, etc. It’s quite exhausting and ironic. The point, of course, is that if we aren’t careful, we get caught up in doing activities, and forget to pay attention to what (and who) really matters.