For me, there is nothing so jarring as this day, the day after Labor Day. One minute you are strolling with the masses at the State Fair, or planning a camping trip, or having an iced tea out on the deck with a delightful book in hand. The next day, that is, the day after Labor Day, and the boom is lowered. The fair is shuttered for the next 49 weeks, the campgrounds close the shower houses, and the deck will soon be covered in a pile of dirty leaves, and it is just too darn cold to read out there anyway.
It is indeed upsetting; I love summer. And truth be told, I just do not like winter. And before you ask, “But what about fall and spring?”, I say, don’t fool yourself. Minnesota truly has but two seasons. Several years back, I worked with a woman who had grown up on the East Coast. In our conversations about the weather, she made it very clear that Minnesota does not have a fall. She spoke wistfully of crisp days and colorful leaves and actually being able to watch your kids’ soccer games without a winter jacket and a blanket spread across your legs. Of course, we do have that in Minnesota…for about three weeks.
So, today I mourn the loss of my beautiful, hot, even sometimes rainy summer. And I brace myself for the unrelenting cold, and the ice that won’t melt til April (or May).
Lest I plunge you into a well of despair, I will mention one really redeeming quality of this first day of fall. It is the return of structure to our days. This is all a vestige from my days as a young mother. After finally getting those kids off to school, and after sitting down with a cup of coffee, I was free to schedule something, something consistent, like an exercise class or part time work. In the summer, with kids clamoring for one more Popsicle or one more ride to the pool, any schedule to my day went out the window. Even now with the kids having been launched long ago, I look forward to regular things I can count on, like Wednesday suppers at church or volunteering at school.
Yes, I do appreciate the return to some regularity to my days, even if it requires an extra sweater.
In that spirit, I am returning to my weekly words on Wednesdays, otherwise known as my blog, “Life as It Is”. (Actually I am jumping the gun a little this week by posting on Tuesday). I hope you’ll read it, relate to it, laugh with it and otherwise just enjoy it. And then I hope you’ll pass it on to friends and neighbors.
Find it again at marthawegner.com/blog
It’s nice for me to have the knowledge that every week, on Wednesday, I’ll be sharing something about my (our) days, and that I can count on you to read it, and you can count on me to write it!
Happy fall.