August vs. September

As the end of August approaches and September looms in the near future, each year I have this recurring struggle with everything August represents as opposed to everything September represents.  August is full of long, hot summer days.  The kids don't have a care in the world.  They wake up all groggy-eyed, stumble into the living room to watch TV, play on the Ipad, or putter on the computer for a while. No concept or concern as to the time.  If time enters their mind at all, it's because they're hungry.  Their days are spent running around the neighborhood with whatever neighborhood kids they can muster up, most of them shoeless with feet the same color as the dirt that covers them.  Their faces of a similar color from dirty hands rubbing their faces throughout the day.  The sun hangs high in the sky for hours and hours and then drops into a colorful backsplash against the horizon.  Then the August nights begin... s'mores around the fire pit, intense sessions of hide-n-seek, again all with no care as to what time it is, that is, until it's time to head in and get ready for bed.  Then it's all bath time and bedtime routine.  Bath time lasting a little longer in the summer because of the several layers of dirt and melted marshmallows smeared across their faces.  Ah yes, August is a good month.  Takes me back to those long, lazy days of summer as a child when time and dirt were of no concern.

Now enters Labor Day Weekend.  The last weekend of the summer.  The end of all that's lazy, loose scheduled, and carefree.  Something happens after this weekend.  Visions of big, yellow suns, swimming pools, and s'mores, are replaced with dancing pencils and rulers in my head.  It's like a switch is flipped and summer comes to a screeching halt.  Groggy-eyed, relaxed mornings are replaced with strict time schedules, hustled breakfasts, assembly lines of teeth brushing and clothes dressing, packing lunches, organizing backpacks, finding missing shoes - all of this before 9 AM.  My mind immediately leaps to fall and Halloween (yes I know Halloween is in October).  I happen to be unnaturally obsessed with Halloween - witches, bats, spiders, anything spooky, but that's for another blog. 

I think why this whole shift from August to September intrigues me so much is because I feel like they are two distinct personalities, and when September hits, my personality changes along with the turn of the calendar.  I'm all about back-to-school, fall, Halloween, turning leaves, fall clothes, tall boots, scarves, you name it!  It gets me all fluttered and excited.  But for this to all happen within a week so suddenly, it makes me feel a little sorry for August to get dumped so quickly as if it never mattered in the first place.  After that month-long relationship of fun summer activities, how can I so quickly forget about our long lazy days together and everything August represented?  I feel a little cold about my ability to shift gears so enthusiastically.  But nevertheless, I do it every single year.

So for now, until September arrives, I'll make sure to enjoy this last week of long summer days and fun summer nights.  Who knows, I might even actually eat a s'more!