The Summer Tired

Wow. I don't know about you, but I am summer tired.


I do love summer - the vegetables, the sunshine, the fun events, the farmers markets, our birthdays - but I love seeing summer end. By the time the calendar reaches this time of year I am just completely spent and ready for some sweatshirt time. Right now, I am ready for some wine instead of a gin and tonic, some soup instead of a salad, some crisp air instead of humidity.


As my life has progressed my perspective on the seasons has truly changed. When I was younger everything went according to the school calendar. As I have grown older I have truly come to appreciate every season for what it is. After living in Alaska my perspective has also completely changed. I no longer hate the hot weather. I appreciate it now because it grows tomatoes and peppers and sweet corn, something that was a near impossibility in the north unless you had a good greenhouse. I appreciate the cold winters because I realize that having a wonderful jacket and good warming foods can change every perspective on cold. I realize now that winter is a grand moment of silence in the midst of a calendar full of craziness. A forced icy reprieve, if you will, to the wildness of hot weather things to do. I also realized after living in AK that you can still do a lot more outside in winter than I may have previously thought. I love the sunshine on a crisp blanket of snow more than the sunshine at almost any other time of year.


Another reason I like to appreciate the seasons is because everyone seems to be constantly complaining about them. My facebook feed is barraged with complaints about the cold, the heat, the snow, the rain, the thunder, the hail, the ice, the what-have-you. I really do not want to be one of those folks. I want to appreciate where I live, and right now that is Iowa. That means 4 distinct seasons, lots of crazy weather, and winters that involve never quite knowing what you are going to get. Living here means maybe Christmas will be white, but maybe Halloween and Thanksgiving will too. Living here means maybe tornadoes and definitely thunderstorms and hail.


I am trying to cultivate gratitude more in my life. After the fire it was initially quite difficult to have a good attitude about anything, and the habit developed of being crabby and depressed. This wasn't clinical depression, this was my attitude. So, I'm trying to be thankful for today's heat while being grateful that tomorrow is calling for weather in the 60's and my sweatshirts...baby, they are calling me from the closet desperately.


So here's to the upcoming fall and the ending of summer. Here's the preserving the last of the tomatoes next week and moving on to sauerkraut, pears, apples, and cranberries. Here's to berry picking tomorrow without sweating myself away.


Here's to getting some sleep and recovering from the summer tired.