Goodbye, summer

There's a window of time each year where it doesn't quite feel like summer anymore, and yet you haven't fully transitioned into the fall season.  It leaves one feeling slightly confused and not sure whether to embrace the change in season or lament the one that is being left behind.  This is where we are right now.  Fall is straight ahead in our sights, and yet it's hard to accept the fact that summer, that long anticipated and gone too soon season is really over. 

The end of summer to me always feels like waking up from a dream.  I know that summer was here.  I know that the sun was out and the weather was hot, and that I went on weekend vacations and frolicked (yes, I tend to frolic from time to time) in natural bodies of water, camped under the stars and enjoyed days and days away from my office, and yet it all seems like something that happened long ago, in an almost forgotten time.  Why is that?  Why do the events of summer seem like they occurred years ago instead of a mere few weeks?

The summertime effect, as I will now be calling it, happens every year right around this time.  For while the calendar says September my head is stuck in August, and while school is back in full swing and there are a million things going on, I'm still thinking about vacations and quiet work weeks.  But while I sit here missing summer I'm also starting to look forward to what lies ahead, to pulling out my fall decorations from the storage closet and decking the halls with shades of orange, red and brown, to meals in the Crock Pot and hot apple cider in the evenings.  

Yes, there is plenty to be excited about with the arrival of fall.  There's college football, Halloween, new seasons of my favorite TV shows (I'm looking at you Glee and Parks and Rec), hosting my first Thanksgiving (yikes!), egg nog, and Pumpkin Spice Lattes back on the menu at Starbucks.  Little things I know, but it's those little things that add up to one fantastic season. 

The one problem with fall?  I can never seem to slow down long enough to enjoy it.  Much like summer has become nothing but a distant memory, I know that before too long I will be looking back wondering how the fall went by so fast.....as I watch the snow pile up outside my window.  It's a fact I've grown to accept, and it doesn't make me like the season any less.  I'll still do my best to soak up as much fall as I possibly can.

Now that we are well into the second week of September, I can feel myself transitioning.  I can feel the change in the air, notice the difference in the light at certain times of day, and for the first time in months am having to dig through my closet for a pair of jeans.  It's sad to see summer hide away when it feels like it was just getting started, but part of me is ready to move into the next phase of the year.  

Goodbye, summer.  Until we meet again......