Wednesday, August 06, 2008

The Autumn Paradox

We are on the downslope of summer. Fall will be here before we even know it. The weather will cool, the leaves will turn, the days will get noticeably shorter.

At first this will be welcome. No more dog days of summer. Aren't the leaves so pretty? Yay, we get another hour of bar time.

Then it gets cold, really cold. And dry. Even though there is a foot of snow on the ground, there's no moisture to be found.

The transition from summer to winter means a lot of things to a lot of people. Us sports fans will welcome back the NFL, then the NBA and NHL, and say good bye to MLB with yet another world series the Tigers did not win.

The skiers and snowboarders will rejoice as it will soon be cold enough to make snow. The fisherman, water-skiers, and bikers will reluctantly put away their toys for a few months. Parents will gladly send their kids back to school, unless said student is a college freshman and the parents are footing the tuition bill.

With every end, there is a new beginning. Some of us wish the end would never come, others are giddy with the anticipation of the beginning.

Personally, I will mourn the loss of summer more this year than normal. As I grow older and realize that the summers in my past which I have been able to enjoy probably now outnumber the ones yet to come. I will again lament the fact that I have yet to sack up and move my sorry ass to a climate that is drier throughout the year, and I will procrastinate on shoveling my snow if at all possible.

With the summer coming to an end faster than I would like, I'll be sure to enjoy what I can of what's left. Take the long way home from work on a nice day, ride 200 miles one way just to grab a burger, sit under a shade tree and just take everything in with all of my senses.

Hopefully what I've experienced this summer will help carry me through another winter of discontent.