Like many of you, I’m sure, I looked at the calendar this morning thinking, “WTF…” And I wasn’t referring to Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, either.
Here we are on this last day of August, a rainy one for us in our neck of the woods, as we jump back into the “-ber” months that take us to the end of the year. It sure went faster than last year, as time seems to do with each passing year. It sort of creeps up on you at first and you don’t even notice the days are getting shorter. That is, until the chickens have all gone in to roost, you’re locking them in, doing your other daily evening tasks and realize, damn, it’s not even eight o’clock yet.
Okay, maybe that’s just me.
There’s other signs though, if you know where to look. The leaves on the trees have gone from a deep, emerald green to a paler hue. Soon they’ll change entirely, the dull leaves becoming more vivid and they’ll dazzle us with their autumnal colors. Except the chestnut trees, which prefer to retire early and have already begun to drop their leaves. This suits the squirrels just fine, as it makes the “buckeyes” easier to find and stockpile them for winter.
The summer flowers are looking a little ragged now, though the goldenrod stands ready to take over for the Black-eyed Susans and other varieties that typically brighten our property. One last generation of Monarch caterpillars is munching fat and happy on the milkweed. Soon they’ll be all grown up and taking off for their winter home in Mexico. It’s a perilous journey and I can’t help but wonder how many of them leave here and manage to return come spring. I like to think that the answer is “all of them”… they seem like a hearty bunch, afterall.
I can’t help but think of summers past, the end of which were punctuated with the annual Jerry Lewis Telethon. As a kid, that seemed like the signal that, if we didn’t make the most of summer vacation, we had about twenty four hours left to do so. With only two channels, one of them taken up by the telethon, it wasn’t like we were gonna sit on our asses and watch TV anyway.
Some things never change. Even now, before going back to my normal work routine, I find myself looking back over the summer and wondering not only where it went, but if I made the best use of the time and good weather. This year though, I believe I can say that I most definitely did. We kicked the summer off with a long overdue visit to the Adirondack Mountains and then after a few weeks of summer work, the new garage project all came together, albeit a few weeks later than what I was hoping. Now everything is back to normal, a new and better one actually, with everything in its place and where I can actually find it! The garden produced better than ever, prompting Abby and I to begin canning our own food, including a batch of dill pickles that beat Vlasic all to hell.
So, yeah, I made the most of it. Truth be told, I’m ready for the rest that the shorter days and colder months bring.
Which is just as well, because we can’t fight the changing of the seasons any more than we can the changes that happen to all of us as the years pass by. I mean, you can try, but it’s a losing battle. So it’s best to just go with it, enjoy it for what it is, and know that soon enough we’ll be looking at the calendar again, planning the summer months to come.
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This month marks the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attacks that happened on September 11th, 2001. I’ve had mixed feelings as the date approaches. On one hand, I feel like it’s something to be written about but on the other hand I also feel like I’ve said all I have to say about it already.
So I’ll simply say this: After that horrific day, we came together as a nation. People treated each other with a little more kindness, gave each other a little extra grace. I think now, perhaps more than ever, we need that again.
In less than two weeks there will be speeches, documentaries and commemoration events everywhere. Some will observe the day with patriotic songs and reminders to “never forget.” Others, myself included, will observe the day a little differently, more quietly.
Whatever the case, the best way to observe the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks is to be the person you were on the 12th.