You can feel it in the air too, can’t you?
The sun doesn’t feel as direct. The mornings start off cooler and take longer to warm up. It’s getting darker earlier than it used to. The very first leaves are starting to fall.
This is the time of year that I see the odd leaf and think back to this classic:
Summer 2020 was SOOOOOO good.
After weeks of enforced hibernation in our own nests, the sun came out and beckoned us out of our caves.
- We emerged from our homes to smile at each other as we walked up and down the sidewalks of our city.
- The sun warmed the earth and we sat on the front stoop to chat as the neighbors went by.
- The leaves emerged and we walked with friends underneath the boughs in the parks, enjoying a frisbee or a ball.
- The grass greened up and we sat on it, on separate picnic blankets maybe–but close enough to visit for family picnics with another family.
- The sun set over the water and with even with 6 feet separating us, we could watch it together, admiring the colours of the sun, clouds and water.
We are in the sunset of Summer 2020, and there is a special sweetness to it this year. Like a vine ripened local tomato that is red through and through–we appreciate this summer as extraordinarily delicious. THis was the summer that we didn’t take our connections for granted.
This was the summer when we experienced the utter deliciousness of connection.
The summer of 2020 will be remembered as the summer of connection–where we celebrated the value of friends on back decks and under an umbrella on a patio.
We missed Folkfest, Fringe Festival, Folklarama, and so much more–there was so much loss, so many good Manitoba events that could not happen in summer of 2020. But that made the sweetness of happy hour on the porch with the neighbours all that much sweeter.
It’s time to grieve the ending of summer of 2020. I talked about it with Nicole today:
We are heading into winter, the first full winter of the COVID-19 era:
- the days will get shorter
- the nights longer
- the colours bleaker
- the temperature colder
- the opportunities for outdoor time with others more challenging
It is an uncertain winter with factors that can be fussed over and predictions made, but nothing certain:
- the impact of flu season on COVID-19 numbers
- the beginning of school with children connecting with friends and teachers
- the direction of COVID-19 during colder weather
The warmth and connection of summer puts gas in our tanks to help with the anticipation of an uncertain fall and winter. This known summer is a valuable resource we have as we face an unknown winter.
Join me in raising a glass to the Summer of 2020. Let’s be grateful to her for the:
- sunshine she gave us
- visits on the patio she blessed us with
- warmth of joined laughter during walks during the sun-dappled on the dry paths she gave us
- restoration of body and spirit through the bright flowers that grew and the gentle rains that fell and the birds that chirped.
