The End of Summer

Summer here in these United States is conveniently segmented by holidays. It begins with Memorial Day, which is always the last Monday in May, reaches an apex with Independence Day, and then closes with Labor Day, the first Monday in September. It all has a nice symmetry. Even though summer doesn’t technically end until September 21st, for all intents and purposes it’s done after Labor Day, when most kids are back in school, the summer clothes are put away (at least in Northern climates) and you might put a thin blanket on the bed.

Although summer certainly has its selling points (use of the outdoor pool being the chief one for me), autumn is my favorite season, and I look forward to the next couple of months. These are the things I like about fall: baseball playoffs, college football games, start of hockey season, Halloween, cool, crisp air, the changing of the leaves, flannel, the smell of woodsmoke, the release of serious movies, and perhaps most of all, is there anything more spectacular than an Indian Summer day?

So it’s three days off. I’ll be a friend’s barbecue, and if what’s left of Ernesto doesn’t ruin everything, also a college soccer game, and maybe seeing if I can get some clothes at a Labor Day sale. Long pants, of course, as I’ll have to put my shorts away.