Labor Day has passed and summer is officially considered over. My daughter has been back in school for a month now and the holiday season is fast approaching. Where did the time go?
I have always enjoyed autumn – it has been my favorite time of year, even when I was a little girl. Summers spent chasing fireflies and playing with neighbors until the last light of day would give way to cooler crisp nights and earlier curfews at home. For me, autumn was the greatest time to curl up with a good book because I would always have to be home before dark. Reading time would gradually increase and time would march closer to the approaching winter.
As I got older, autumn was the time I looked forward to the new fall premieres on television. What was going to be my newest obsession? Would my old television favorites be returning? Back in the 70s there was no Internet to be able to check out favorite shows. Today, with the click of the mouse, I can find out all the ins and outs of the shows I love. This is just one of the many advantages to the World Wide Web.
Autumn also meant a change in eating habits. The fresh veggies and fruit from the harvest of summer would turn into the newly preserved food my mother would have canned throughout the summer. Fast easy meals of salad, fruits, and sandwiches were quickly replaced by all day cooking of soups, stews, and chili. There’s nothing better than sitting down to a nice hot bowl of chili on a cool autumn evening.
The one thing I have always disliked about adjusting to a new season is the changing of the wardrobe. Shorts, tank tops and sandals (in today’s world it’s crocs) must be packed away for another year and bluejeans, t-shirts and boots are pulled out of storage. No more running out the door without looking at the temperature, autumn means usually having to wear a sweater or light jacket, only to lose it by lunchtime when the temperature climbs. By early evening, the temperature dips again as you try to remember where you left your jacket or sweater.
During the dog days of summer you can happily play outdoors with all your neighborhood friends, but by the time school started, you would be spending more time with your school friends – although in my case, for the most part, these friends were one in the same. Birthday parties and sleepovers replaced playing Red Rover-Red Rover and freeze tag. The telephone, which had remained silent during the summer, would continually ring as calls were made to review homework assignments or talk about things that happened during school hours.
September has always been the month when I notice my mood changing – for the better. I have never been a summer person, usually shying away from the hot, humid days of summer in favor of the cool, crisp days of fall, winter and spring. Gone are the days of hiding in the shade to escape the sun’s rays, the sometimes chilly days of September remind me that fall has arrived.
Also with the arrival of September, I know that Halloween will soon be here. As a child I looked forward to the long process of choosing a Halloween costume and pumpkins to carve. There was also the growing anticipation that Thanksgiving and Christmas would soon be right around the corner, and what kid doesn’t look forward to Christmas?
This September I’m looking forward several new and returning television shows. From my childhood it used to be Starsky and Hutch, Miami Vice and Fantasy Island; now I look forward to the return of Bones, Californication, Heroes, Dexter and Grey’s Anatomy, plus the new premiere of True Blood, based on the Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris.
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here are also many new books I’m eagerly awaiting to be published: Swallowing Darkness by Laurell K. Hamilton, Scarpetta by Patricia Cornwell, and The Tales of Beadle the Bard by J. K. Rowling. The fall movies I’m anticipating are Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince – and who isn’t waiting for this one? - and Twilight based on the novel by Stephenie Meyer.
Even though summer is gone – to me, the best part of the year is just getting started. Time for family togetherness, time for meals spent together, and time to reflect over the past year and plan for the future. Many people do this in January, but for me, September will always be the time of new beginnings.
© Bobbi Rightmyer 2008
