No Such Thing as Bad Summer

It’s suddenly August and summer is suddenly almost over. Summer clothes go on sale and back-to-school ads begin to appear. August is when cicadas are the loudest – their “songs” resonate with my inkling that’s something big is about to end. And then there will be a new beginning, so it’s kind of the calm before the storm. You only get this kind of sadness once a year – when summer is approaching its final run: you begin to reminisce about the warm sunny days even though it’s still nice out. You can’t get enough of the light, the breeze, the smell of the ocean in the air.

August is when we pause. Slightly tired from the beach, swimming, all the summer activities, we prefer to sit on the porch and indulge in inertia. Very soon we will have to compose ourselves and embrace the new beginning. Get back into the crazy running cycle with long to-do lists in our hands. Kids go back to school, coworkers come back from vacation – our lives suddenly become so crowded, and noisy, and eventful. And as the days get shorter we cannot help the feeling that we are running out of time because there is so much to accomplish.

Yet there’s still one month left before we accelerate. Still some time to dissolve in the warm summer air, in tranquility and daydreaming. To let the departing season give you one more hug, feel its breezy breath on your cheeks, steal as much of its light as you can fit in your heart, where you will lock it to let it out little by little when the cold days begin their reign.