Seasons

We just spent a long Labor Day weekend at the lake.  (This would sound less braggy if you’ve seen the lake cottage, cottage is a very appropriate term.  We don’t do the mansion on the water thing you might be thinking of, and that we see elsewhere on our lake.  For instance one of the big topics of conversation this weekend was about our upcoming sewing hook-up which will allow us to flush the toilet more than twice a day or actually shower at the lake.  We were there 3 days, in the sun, I ran 6 miles with my niece, and took zero baths/showers besides submerging myself in the lake.  I also wore basically the same clothes all weekend besides swimsuit, running clothes, and pjs.  I've heard you swallow an average of ~7 spiders a year...I'm pretty sure 200% of mine happen at the lake.  We’re pretty rustic around there.)

Labor Day weekend signals the unofficial end of summer, especially for those of us not under a school schedule.   Does anyone really pay attention to the calendar seasons and consider summer from June 22nd-September 22nd?  No, I think most of us think Memorial Day – Labor Day or whenever you aren’t in school.  Anyways, summer is now unofficially over which brings another lake season to an end.  With this long weekend and a decent amount of down time, I did a lot of thinking about seasons.  How exciting it is when summer finally comes, especially after a long winter and/or rainy spring, how exciting it is to go back to the lake and get the jet ski back on the water.  Luke literally laughed through our entire first ride this summer he was so excited about it.  We look forward to summer all year and really try to make the most of it.  I’ve talked about how busy our July was and how we crammed in as much “summer” as we could.  August was certainly more low key but still, lake trips and such happened.

Now that’s all coming to an end.  Luke knows he’ll be 4 when we put the jet ski back in the water and that seems crazy far away even though he is almost 3 1/2 already.  This long weekend, while nice, is also always a little bittersweet, like all our lake trips in August and September.  You know it’s coming to an end and want to pack in as much as you can while the weather is still nice.  We have more patience for Luke on these last lake trips, less grumbling about taking him fishing or swimming.  We know it won’t be long until we really wish we could do those things but can’t.

We end another summer feeling like we’ve made the most of it and really enjoyed the best parts of summer – being outside, being by the water, the longer nights and earlier mornings.  We swam, jet skied, kayaked, fished, rode our bikes, stayed up late, did fireworks, went to the drive-in, went to baseball games, a wedding, other celebrations, spent time next to the kiddie pool and took on big house projects that wouldn’t work in the winter.  We usually maximize our summers pretty well but it’s also easy to be so busy for these ~3 months because we know they are short lived.  We have definite seasons here, summer is starting to turn to fall which will all too quickly turn to winter and snow and ice and avoiding the outdoors.  I love that we live somewhere with seasons (I wrote about it here).

Lake season wouldn’t be so special if it lasted all year.  We wouldn’t go up nearly as often.  You’ve heard people who live by the beach say they never (or rarely) go to the beach whereas if you are vacationing by the beach you likely go daily or close to it.  There is something special and wonderful about only having things for a limited amount of time.  I love Christmas music but couldn’t listen to it year round, it’s special because I only listen to it about 5 weeks a year.  I love love love summer but the introvert part of me doesn’t think I could keep up this schedule year round even if we had the weather for it.  It’s about this time of year we start wanting to be home more, pack up less, and start cozying up for the winter.  We love going to the lake but also love it because we know the season is so short lived each year.  That makes it more special.

This doesn’t just apply to seasons of the year but also seasons in life.  We were at the lake this weekend with one of Matt’s sisters and I was talking books with her a few times (it seems we have similar tastes) and she made it through about a book and a half over the weekend.  I got 120 pages into mine.  She pointed out I was mostly watching a 3 year old while she was reading and that’s much it much harder to plow through a book.  And it’s true.  Right now most of my “sitting by the water” time is spent playing with Luke and making sure he’s safe.  There isn’t a whole lot of opportunity for sneaking in some pages (although I was able to get in some).  That’s just the season of life we are in right now.  Kids grow up as we all know.  Luke isn’t going to be this small forever (he already told me he'll be 21 on his next birthday...um.....) so we try to embrace the joys of this season, the cuddles, hugs and kisses and a kid who actually wants to be around us pretty much all the time.

Most things last for just a season whether it's a season in life, your kid's life, or a season the year (which thankfully will return within 12 months).  There is some definite beauty in that and in embracing whatever season you are currently in.  While I am (slightly, or a lot) mourning the end of summer, I'm also excited for fall.  I have less than two years left with Luke at home and one of us (him) is certainly excited about going to school.  Life would be boring if it stayed the same all the time.  Embrace the change.