School is Out. Grill is On.

This post is presented in partnership with Char-Broil. Though I have been compensated, my words and thoughts are my own. If you are nice, I might share some of the grilled food. Enjoy.

School is out and summer is finally here. Some of you are going to get technical with me and say that the Summer Solstice isn’t until blah blah blah. Let me explain something to you: To a teacher, summer begins as soon as that last bell sounds. And that bell has rung.

Summer is here and I am home.

Being home means a number of things: I become a seasonal stay-at-home dad, the kids have various summer camps and activities, and I have more time to grill.

In fact to commemorate the end of school, I cooked a nice steak, some burgers, corn, and brats. It was glorious.

It may sound silly to some, but grilling is an opportunity for me to slow down and decompress. Sometimes, I listen to a book. Sometimes I watch a movie. Sometimes I listen to music. And sometimes I just think.

One of my favorite things about my Char-Broil TRU-Infrared Gas Grill? The way in which it heats evenly and consistently as well as prevent flare-ups. Why is this important?

Believe it or not, this relates to parenthood. Life doesn’t heat evenly. There are hot spots. There are cool spots. And there are a lot of flare-ups. My grill prevents these things from affecting my food. As a parent, however, it is my job to help my kids navigate the flare-ups of life.

During the summer, the grill is like the office water cooler. Friends and family gather around it and anxiously await the food to be finished. And what happens during that wait? Conversations.

So while my Whether it is waxing poetic about the intricacies of the comic cinematic universe, discussing what foods to grill (or how thick a burger should be), or even just checking in on my family and what’s going on in their lives.

Sure there are the routine holiday opportunities – Father’s Day, 4th of July, etc. – but the random weekday evening or morning is another opportunity for fine food and fellowship.

If you could bottle up summertime memories, mine would probably taste like smoke and laughter.

So here is to summer. I have a list of foods yet to grill this summer. What’s on your grilling list?