Cruel Summer

It seemed like every time I got in the car, Taylor Swift was telling me about the cruel summer she was having. The success of her Eras tour indicates that her summer has been anything but cruel. For those of us in the Northeast, however, it has been cruel. More cloudy, rainy days than beautiful and sunny ones. While Texas and most of the south melted in temperatures that exceeded triple digits, we could count on one hand, with fingers left over, how many days exceeded 90 degrees. As today marks the first day of school for students in towns across the country, it truly feels like it was a cruel summer. Did we even have summer? The days are already shorter - mornings are not so bright (even on days when the sun does appear), we need to put lights on by 7:00 pm and don't even get me started on the approach of the "burr" months. No, the end of summer is not my favorite time of year by any stretch.

While Mother Nature has decided to end our lazy, hazy days of summer; and I don't even have the thought of a Yankee baseball post season to ease the pain; the start of school is like a loud "you're outta here" to summer, maybe this is an opportunity to reflect on what that means. Over the next six months, we will see the leaves change color and provide a beautiful landscape before turning brown and falling to the ground leaving behind bare branches. The lawns, now green and flush, will turn brown and spotted. Flower beds will be emptied of their beautiful shades of summer and like us, will droop. We often find ourselves less vibrant during the long winter months. Yes, the holidays will peak our interest, but for some even that brings more angst and concern than joy. The world seems dark and cold and we just yearn for those days by the ocean. But what is happening during that time? What transformation is taking place below the surface to prepare us for the beautiful vision of spring? Those lifeless trees are actually pollenating to bring about new leaves, the lawns are resting below the surface to once again sprout in the spring. What about us? Are we working below the surface to re-emerge in the spring?

Maybe we need to look at this as the "sunrise" time of the year rather than the "sunset". Taking these next months to revive, reorganize, re-everything. As you are completing the endless back to school forms and permission slips, why not add a registration form for something for yourself? A club or a fitness program? I can provide options for the latter-virtual or in person- wink wink. Take on a project that you have been putting off. Create a goal and get it done. I've had an awful sinus infection for the last few days and it made me truly recognize the need for rest and stepping back for a bit to re-energize. As I bemoaned the end of summer and being ill, I decided that this winter, I would try to be more optimistic and work to make myself a better version to emerge full of life and excited for the new season! Every day is a gift and we need to embrace even those sunlight shortened days as the opportunity that they present. God has not created anything that is to be wasted and we need to see the value of those gifts. I will, however, still countdown to Memorial Day weekend and the excitement of the approaching summer! But, for the next 271 days, I will also work on me. Will you join me and work on you? to be continued....