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.
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