Goodbye, Summer

I haven't seen a lightening bug in a while, but everywhere I go, I do see school supplies and harried moms with excited kids filling their carts. A big yellow bus drove through the neighborhood yesterday, making a practice run before school starts back next week, which can only mean one thing: it's time to say goodbye to summer time.

I love the laid back atmosphere that lazy summer days bring about; t-shirts, bare feet, messy hair. I love tomato sandwiches, hamburgers and shish kabobs hot off the grill on a Saturday night, eating outside on our deck once the heat of the day has faded, and cutting up a watermelon and sprinkling it with salt for dessert.

Summer is that time of year for sand between your toes, for diving into a pool of cool, clear water, for skiing and boating and days on the lake soaking up the sun. It means longer days, sleeping late, and time spent in a swing or rocking chair in the shade of the front porch.

I'll miss my flip flops, the sweet smell of suntan lotion, and the countdown until vacation. To be completely transparent, I should add that I will decidedly not miss gnats (or mosquitoes for that matter), the humidity, or the having to water my poor plants on a daily basis lest they shrivel and die from heat exhaustion. Still, summer in the South is something special, and I have enjoyed practically every moment.

Yes, all of that has been fantastic in its own right, but that season is almost at a close. Goodbye, summer. Until we meet again.

Scenes from our summer.

And hello, fall. Hello to crisp, cool mornings, falling leaves, and pumpkin spice everything (do not be a pumpkin spice hater...give yourself the joy of PS this year and you will never go back to mundane flavors again). It's time for football season, tailgating, jean and boots and sweater weather. Once again, we can turn on the fire pit and get cozy.

Hello, Halloween decorations! Skulls and bones and skeletons, pumpkins and leaves and acorns. I have to restrain myself from filling multiple carts and clearing out the seasonal decor aisles because I love all of it. ALL of it. Let's watch scary movies and eat candy and wear costumes. It's fall, it's what we do.

Before you know it, it will be soup weather, I can unpack my sweatshirts out of storage, and break out the blankets. Our favorite TV shows will mercifully be returning, and we can trade our Popsicles for s'mores, our beach balls for footballs, and our swimsuits for long sleeves--a blessed occasion if there ever was one.

There will be fall festivals, hayrides, corn mazes, pumpkin patches, and apple picking. Well, in reality, I don't apple pick. I don't like fruit or manual labor and so that one makes little to no sense for me, but I can appreciate the novelty of the experience (so long as I am not required to partake). But, for the record, I have never met a caramel apple I didn't like, so apple pickers, do your thing.

Before you know it, it will be Thanksgiving and turkey time, and then we will be counting down to Christmas. But I don't want to get ahead of myself; let's just enjoy it all as it comes. And if you're really sad to see summer come to an end, don't worry: here in the South, the temperature will be summertime hot for at least another month or two. We like to take our vacation at the end of the summer, so I've still got one last beach vacation on the calendar, but that will be the bookend to summertime for me. I'll come back ready for corduroy, cinnamon, cider, and scarecrows. Now, pass the candy corn. Let's get ready for fall, y'all!