Lamenting the Summer
09.24.08 | 07:28 PM CDT
The cool nights over the past couple of days have quickly reminded me that times are changing. As much as I don’t enjoy thinking about it, colder days are coming. But rather instead of thinking of the impending winter weather, I often think back on what this summer has brought me, and what I regret not accomplishing.
The summer certainly didn’t start off with a bang. Cold rainy weather kept many of us from getting outside as early as we are used to. My girlfriend and I took our first crack at putting up a garden this year. I’m an old hand to it, but the whole process was new to her, and one that I think she learned a lot. The cooler start to the summer kept us from planting during normal dates, and pushed back the harvest of many crops. The rainy weather didn’t do the garden any justice either. We’re just now enjoying some tomatoes, unusually late for this time. I anticipated some hot sticky weather to offset the cold, long winter. As I enjoy running in hot temperatures, this summer really didn’t produce many of those days for me. One of which was this past weekend, which was very nice. A nice hot run along the Chicago Lakefront path is always a treat. Relaxing on the beach is another.
So when I look back a the summer and figure out the list of things I have accomplished and wish I would have done, I must say that compared to past years I have done a lot. Many picnics, outdoor concerts, much gardening, road trips, and relaxing by the beach. Yes, I do feel like I had a great summer, but I wish I could have taken more advantage of the warmer weather. I know that the warm weather isn’t completely past us, and actually it has just begun to get cooler. I really love the fall, and put it second to a nice warm summer.
It seems to me that people think of the end of summer as the end of the year. For us Midwesterner’s it does mean cooler temps, but it’s not the end of the year. We have so much to do during the fall and winter even. Think fall. Football, tailgating, walks through the parks and forests to view the leaves, trail running, carving pumpkins. So much left to the rest of the year. Sure, I always wish that the summer stays around, however, I can always get a great joy doing some fall like activities to get in that last bit of warm weather.
No one has posted yet