Unprompted.

The only reason I ever liked the month of August is because I have known several very special people born in its clutches. Two indispensable family members, and a childhood friend whose early death taught me that life is fragile and not guaranteed, and that milestones are precious regardless of age. And one can never forget the crown of August milestones. Our only daughter’s beautiful wedding 35 years ago.

To humanize a month of the year, I would not hesitate to claim August doesn’t know what it wants. Usually opening with the hottest weather of the season, often dangerously so, putting seniors, roofers, road crews, and very young children in harm’s way. And without a blink of an eye somersaulting into cool fall rainy days requiring a jacket, hat and mittens. Additionally, during this particular August we have even seen the resurgence of COVID-to a lesser degree- but COVID nonetheless.

Sad news in families have a way of surfacing during the Fall months. Who wants bad news interrupting spring and summer plans? The kind that has been stewing for months on the back burner and has finally reached a boiling point, into a shocked, “What are you saying. Surely you can’t mean it!”

Yes, the Summer of ‘23 is rapidly coming to a close. All those cheerful little blooms on our patios are tired and trying in vain to hold up their sleepy little heads just a few weeks longer before they give up and give in to the murderous Jack Frost and his inevitable killing season.

Nowhere is Frost’s premeditation more evident than Late August. And no time is August more revered than during its later days. We long for more than its 31 days. We are not Eskimos. The Inuit people thrive in snow and ice; we shiver and our bones ache. We sit by our fires and dream of hot August days. Only then do we realize just how special August is and how lucky we are to live in a seasonal climate. What a gift!

Elise-not much but something. Sorry for the melancholia, but that is where I am these days. Sept 14 is too close and right on the heels of the 13th. I can’t believe it!

See you and Blossom at the shower. She is my bright spot these days.