Goodbye to Summer (sigh)

I am not happy that summer is coming to an end. Not happy at all. I hate seeing all that Halloween crap in stores, I don’t want to “Fall into____(insert “savings” or “school” or “a manhole” here). All I want to do is wear shorts and tank tops all year long and never have to don a down jacket. The occasional hoodie, sure, I’ll wear that. But I don’t ever want to wear a hat or gloves. Never.

I love summer. I love the heat and the humidity, I love the beach and the long days and the food. I love driving around with the beach chairs in the back of my truck, all the time, just in case. I love sitting on the beach listening to the Atlantic sing it’s songs for me. I love Jersey Fresh corn and tomatoes, Vidalia onions and the sweet watermelon with seeds that come in late August. I love walking on the jam-packed boardwalk on a hot Saturday night, playing Skee-Ball and trading tickets for trinkets. I just plain love it.

Perhaps it is my aversion to any season that isn’t summer that has kept me from caring about my birthday. I was born on the 28th of October, right smack dab in the center of autumn. Not the colorful, changing leaves, apple-picking half of October – no, I was born in the gray, rainy and cold part. And right before Halloween, meaning that from the age of about 5 onward, most of my birthday cakes were a jack-o-lantern, a witch’s hat, or a layered affair with lots of red and orange leaves. Autumnal. Don’t get me wrong, I am not one of these “I don’t celebrate my birthday” types. I am old, and that’s that. But birthdays aren’t special to me. Maybe if I were born in June, July or August I would feel differently. Then I could have had cookout parties instead of bowling parties. I don’t much like bowling either.

Before long I will indeed embrace the season. I will say “Oh, aren’t those leaves pretty,” while wishing they were still green. I will comment on the crisp air as I wrap a scarf around my head, remembering fondly the flip-flops and bathing suit that sit alone in deep storage. And I will eat (hopefully) Fudgie The Whale as I celebrate my autumn birthday. And when I blow out my candles and make a wish, I will wish for June.

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