The end of summer

Photo by Tara Lamont Eastman.

When does summer end? A quick consult to the indispensable Old Farmer's Almanac tells me right down to the minute: Saturday, September 22 at 10:48 am. A precise answer, no doubt, but it still doesn't quite sit right with me. Like many things in life, the truth seems more elusive.

First of all, September 22 just seems way too late. All the routine activities that make up our community life are well into full swing by then. Plus, anyone who has ever sat in a stuffy classroom wearing scratchy new school clothes can tell you that there is nothing even remotely summer-like about that experience. The last day of school vacation seems a more appropriate marker. Maybe Labor Day weekend. Yet there are still other options that aren't so calendar specific.

Summer may be over when…

• …I grab a blanket and forgo the fan/air conditioner at bedtime.
• …I wake up in the morning with a black and white beagle staring me in the face. I know the dog days of summer (sorry) are over when Aggie leaves her usual sleeping spot of the cool linoleum floor in the small bathroom and crawls in bed between my wife and I sometime during the night.
• …it makes more sense to bury my swimming trunks in a seldom-used dresser drawer than leave them out along with beach towels and sunscreen.
• …I stop wearing gym shorts every waking minute that I'm not at work. This is much to the relief of my children, my neighbors, and the general public at large and gives them something to look forward to every autumn.
• …hot dogs at dinner time only indicates that something has gone horribly awry with other, more elaborate dinner plans.

Perhaps the most personal indicator for me is the moment that I realize that I have once again fallen short of my annual summertime goal: To spend at least as much time swimming as it takes to set up, maintain, and winterize the pool. (Oops—mentioned the "W word.")

Summertime is so fleeting in these parts. I try to hold onto it as long as I can, ever knowing that I will soon wake up one morning and find leaves covering my yard. Maybe the thing to hold onto, if not the season itself, is the precious time enjoyed with family and friends. So I hold up a s’more in salute and look back with gratitude on those weeks: nights with the family "with nothing particular to do", swimming at Kinzua Dam, campfires, picnics (before hot dogs wore out their welcome), late night ice cream excursions, and the 2012 ELCA Youth Gathering in New Orleans.

But my reverie must go on hold for the moment. It's Labor Day weekend and I may still have a shot at getting some of that "pool time" in!

Ian Eastman, M.A. is the Conference Youth Coordinator for the Southwestern Conference of the Upstate New York Synod, the Coordinator of the Shared Lutheran Youth Ministry in Jamestown NY, and a Youth Minister in the Pastoral Care Department at Gustavus Adolphus Family Services. He is a student at the Institute for Youth Ministry at Princeton Theological Seminary.