Farewell to Summer, My Enemy

Summer, I am not sad to see you go. You were a difficult season, to be sure. You are much too hot for a girl raised in a temperate clime and this year you were not just hot, but very sad and trying for me as well.

Mainly I dislike you, of course, because of my separation from E. Your blazing heat made that difficult situation harder than it had to be. Early into that experience, after the decision to separate, but before E moved out, Carmen and I escaped your punishing weather and our sad home at Barnes & Noble. There were many other “browsers” there that day too, all wanting to get away from you, Summer. I discovered the book “Vintage Vavoom” and lost myself in the gorgeous vignettes photographed therein. Once home, I busied myself re-working my china cabinet. Inspired by what I had seen in the book, I attempted to create a more soothing, monochromatic display of creams and browns, with a few hints of blue and pink. I arranged jars of river rocks and sand, a dish of sea glass and my antique vegetable bowl full of pottery shards that we discovered on our hike at Folsom Lake last year. All of these are mementos of happier summers. I also included photos and artifacts from my ancestors. When I look at the cabinet now, I think I was creating a visual story of sentiment and loss. It helped me process the changes our family was facing.


Another thing that made you so objectionable, Summer, was the fact that you were all work and no play this year. There were no vacations and no outings to beaches or lakes or rivers. If not for Uncle Jon and Aunt Deb, my boys would have been prisoners at home. For me, it was work, work, work. I am very thankful to be able to provide the neccessities for my family, but did you need to taunt me with the sight of happy, vacationing families driving past me on the road? Their roof racks proclaimed their purpose and left me feeling sad for all the adventures that I was NOT providing to my children. It’s a pretty sad Summer when a cemetery tour is the highlight!

I am grateful for this new chapter in my life, difficult as it may be at time, but I want you to fully know, Summer, that you made it worse than it had to be.

I’m ready to embrace Autumn, who has always been so kind to me, with her brisk breezes and visual delights. She offers fresh hope for happier times. I am looking forward to decorating my home and china cabinet to welcome her. I am thinking longingly of the new, happy memories I will create with my children and my oven is trembling with anticipation of being put to use again.

But you, Summer, are no friend to me and I bid you a glad adieu.