Amy Lu's View

When I was in fifth grade, I read a short story as part of the Junior Great Books program by Ray Bradbury called “All Summer in a Day.” (Inspiration for a previous blog post: https://amyluedtke.wordpress.com/2020/04/09/all-apocalypse-in-a-day/).

All these many years later, I still remember that story–a rather horrifying little tale about a girl who misses the one day of summer that her space colony community gets to experience because her bullying classmates lock her in a closet

Thankfully, I didn’t have only one day of summer. But if I did, today, the last day of conventional summer, would have included many of the best things about this summer. I got to sleep in, I got in a relatively pleasant run, we had Pigeons From Hell band practice, and then Chad and I had “At Home Happy Hour” and sat on our deck drinking and snacking and talking. 

I’m trying hard not to be sad that summer is over. (It went so fast that it did feel like just a day) I’m trying instead to bask in all the little joys and beauty of it. It wasn’t the “Hot Girl Summer” that pop culture told us to be excited about last year (whatever that was) but it was a very pleasant “Warm Middle-Aged Lady Summer” for me. 

Okay, I was literally hot when the temperature hit 100 and our A/C was out. Yes, not everything about this summer was pleasant, but still had its charms. I like getting to break out those spaghetti string tank tops (at least for a day or two) and being reacquainted with the sight of my bare skin. 

I am wallowing in wistfulness a bit as the summer ends (it is a deliciously achy feeling) but also trying to wrap it in gratitude. This summer wasn’t particularly noteworthy but it was filled with small wonders. I wish I could capture these delights with poetic and witty descriptions, but I have flashes of memories–early and late morning light, and berries, and white wine, and free outdoor music, and watching random unknown kids run around dance, and feeling like the world is just too beautiful for me to take all in and hold it and keep but frantically trying anyway.

Labor Day isn’t a definitive border. There will still be some warm days and little outdoor adventures and mosquito bites in my immediate future. But there is definitely less light, and it will just keep dwindling. That alone feels like a big loss that makes me sad. I can’t help but regret all the awesome things I didn’t do this summer.

Still, I won’t get too emo about things I can’t control. I am going to squeeze as much as I can out of the waning summer and appreciate the approaching fall (but I’m going to stay in denial about the reality of winter).