“I just drove through Dunkin’ and they have pumpkin coffee already.”
Ugh. I just got this text from a friend. It is August. Why are we rushing into fall?
I have always hated that transition from summer into the cooler months. Ever since I was a kid, that feeling of school creeping up on me and stealing me away from the beach or camp has been the worst. Who wants to leave fun in the sun to sit in a dark and dingy classroom?
Some people love the fall, my daughter being one of them. The cool crisp air, sweaters and boots have always signified her favorite time of year. I believe this may stem from her watching “Barney Halloween Party” over and over again on the VCR when she was young. I think that purple dinosaur brainwashed her.
Not me. I’m a flip-flops and t-shirt kinda girl. The feeling of sand between my toes while looking out at the ocean could not make me happier.
But the summer always goes by too quickly. One minute you are eating watermelon and pineapple, and the next thing you know, all you can find are apples. Nothing against apples, except for the fact that they highly signify fall.
I tried to fight it when I was younger. On the first day as a senior in high school, I decided to forego my brand-new fall attire and wore a pair of white shorts and a pink “Camp Beverly Hills” t-shirt to school as my own kind of protest. That same year, a couple of friends and I drove down to the beach during our “double-lunch” period just to be there one last time for the season. Ah the joy of growing up close to the water.
I have stopped protesting the change of season because it obviously did not do any good. After all, you can’t fight Mother Nature.
Fight it or not, I continue to have that feeling of dread every time the leaves start to turn.
As if the fall did not make me sad enough, I now have the added memory of my husband dying on an October day. That same year, three weeks after his death, there was a very strange October snowstorm, which caused a power outage for almost a week. Yea that fall was pretty much the worst time in my life.
Of course, fall transitions into winter, which is even worse. There is not much good about New Jersey in the dead of winter.
So why Dunkin’, are you serving pumpkin coffee in August? And why are Target and Home Goods filled with Halloween decorations? And CVS selling Halloween candy? If I bought that candy now, it would be eaten waaaay before October 31st. That is just asking for trouble.
It is August and I am going to continue my summer months. I am not rushing into fall. Until there is a chill in the air, you can find me on the beach, with my toes in the sand and a book in my hands, drinking a very cold iced coconut coffee. But I am sure my daughter is already drinking her first pumpkin one.
Stacy was a stay-at-home mom/part-time preschool teacher whose life was turned upside down in 2011 when her husband passed away suddenly of a heart attack. She is raising her two fabulous daughters, who are turning into wonderful young women. In 2016, she started a blog about her experience as a young widow, The Widow Wears Pink. This led her to write for other publications including Huffington Post, Today.com, Scary Mommy, Grown & Flown, Kveller, Modern Loss, Thought Catalog, and many more. In 2018 she started Living the Second Act with fellow writer Mimi Golub. Today, Stacy and her daughters are happily living their “new normal” while always keeping her husband’s spirit alive.
