Sunday, September 4, 2011

Glad to Say Goodbye to Summer

Summer is a lot of pressure. Why else would this season be so important as to be bracketed with an official start and end. Two starts in fact. For those anxious fans there is Memorial Day. We all know it's really a fakeout beause schoolchildren still have school, and even worse, it's a signal for the toughest month of their year to start, i.e. finals, regents, APs and the like. But you are allowed to break out the shorts.

Then there's July 4th.

This date is so revered that even if it doesn't fall out on a Monday it is allowed to exist as a stand alone. I'd say that takes some major street cred generally reserved for only Christmas and New Years Day while other weaker holidays have fallen victim to the three day weekend.

It took me many years to realize that I hate summer. During my school years (much longer ago than I care to remember), liking summer was a Pavlovian response. Now I pray for rain. Not for everyone, but just in my little area, and not too often, but oh, say around every ten days.

Then I have a great excuse for staying indoors. It's a lot of pressure having to be outside all the time.

If it's super humid, as is often the case in New York in the summer I go with the excuse,
"It's too hot to be outside."
"But you'll be in the pool."
"Yes, but I have to drive to the pool. In a boiling car."

And that's why I really dislike summer, there's an awful lot of guilt associated with ranking on something as feted as this season, sorta like hating on Betty White. Which I would never ever do. I love you Betty!

And then each Tuesday the questions begin: "What are you doing for the weekend?"
If you begin summer on Memorial Day weekend that's an awful lot of weekends to plan fun-filled activities for.

Of course there is the inevitable follow-up question: "Are you planning any vacation this summer?"
It isn't enough to have to plan every weekend, it is also necessary to come up with a mega-planned event that outshines the other fun-filled filler moments that are mere precursors of the main event...The Vacation, however, if you are taking your children, then it is referred to as a Trip.

I petition for equal respect for Fall and Spring. Sorry, I have few positive words for Winter living as I do on the East Coast. We all got pummeled last year and are not looking to revisit that.

As I head off to my second to last barbecue of the season, I leave you with a parting note. You are allowed to use the grill after Labor Day.


2 comments:

  1. I'm glad I read this after the summer is over or I might have had a much more winter-like attitude towards the happiest time of year. I'm not the most positive being walking this earth but one thing I cant find anything wrong with, is summer. If just waking up in the morning and feeling the warm sun on my face is enough to literally get me high on life (it is), sign me up, all year round. Summer is like dessert before dinner. Summer is just spring followed by a skip and a hop, and who doesn't like spring? Just saying the word "spring" forces one to smile just by the nature of its sound. I think Summer needs an official start and end date because without them we would grab Summer by her ankles and drag along by its feet as it tried to walk out the door and leave us with Fall and Winter. I grabbed a shoe and i'm taking it with me through the year until she comes around again and shines her warmth on me.

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  2. Well, at the moment as we are being bombarded by rainy chilly weather in the East, I might have to agree with you!

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