End of Summer

Did you ever notice how the end of the summer has a particular "feel" to it? At least, it does for me. The days are the hottest (although, NJ's had a particularly damp summer and only a smattering of hot, sticky, truly awful days) and the end of August has always felt the laziest to me.

Of course, now I have to worry about back to school shopping - a very important thing, now that the Girl is going into first grade. She's very much into clothes already, which is worrying me about the future. She's a girly-girl, loves skirts and shoes and dresses. I was always a tomboy, so back to school shopping meant new jeans - yay! But for the Girl, it's an entirely different animal. We've already begun shopping, and she's eyeing up an entirely new wardrobe - heaven help me.

It's been cool this summer - I'm actually wearing jeans and a long-sleeved tee shirt because it's so chilly out. This type of weather makes me think of late October. They days are warm and the nights grow crisp. Fall is my favorite season and one of the best things about New Jersey because the leaves turn such brilliant shades of orange and red - it's absolutely gorgeous, really.

With the nights being that cool now (we shut the AC down on Friday and haven't had to fire it up yet - that'll come later in the week when summer decides to return) I almost forget it's still summer. But when I think about it, it always strikes me how I can "feel" the summer drawing to a close. Activities like cheerleading and football practice get underway, I see high school kids out running along the highway. Things like that.

This summer went by particularly fast. It seems as though my daughter's last day of school was only a week ago, and yet Labor Day is only two weeks away. Of course, I've been busy, with my newest book and a new publisher, my newsletter, two kids, vacations. I've been working on several projects at once, which tends to really chew up the time. And a few other things as well have done their share of time-gnawing. I have big news brewing as well, but I'm waiting to share it for now - I want to make sure nothing goes wrong and I don't want to jinx myself. Call me superstitious, but there you have it.

In short, it's been a hectic, frenetic, busy summer - but it's been a good summer as well. At least, it has for me....