When this edition of the Leader Herald hits the stands and gets around the city, we face a time of year that virtually none of us wish to tackle.
It’s called the end of summer.
Most of us wait all winter for the spring and then rejoice when the warmer weather arrives and summer blossoms all around. This summer has been a bust – the rainiest summer since 1872 according to the US Weather Service.
It seems as though we cannot go for longer than a day or two without rainy downpours disturbing our summer activities.
What can we do about this?
Absolutely nothing.
Some of us who live closer to the shore haven’t yet put on our air conditioners this summer. That’s not to say it wasn’t hot at times – but never for very long.
The rain imposed itself on everything – cookouts, concerts, outdoor activities of all kinds day after day, week after week.
And now to make matters worse, the summer of 2023 is rushing to it’’s inevitable conclusion.
Summer is short to begin with.
It is nearly over when it begins for some of us.
Hanging on to the remaining days in front of us is a sorry business.
There is no way to hang on and too few days left to have much meaning.
All we can hope for is an extended season that lasts through September, into October and maybe even into the beginning of November.
These things are impossible to call. We know this.
This summer was as rainy as they get. This summer couldn’t put together three days of sunshine and heat.
In addition, many times after it rained this summer, the humidity turned the air into mud.
Even on days that began with clear skies everything turned dark and dreary.
Is this summer about climate change?
We suppose it might be but we don’t really know.
What we know is this…the summer is coming to its conclusion and some of us feel just a bit robbed.
This was rainiest summer in 151 years.
Before we know it school is going to be back in, our jobs will require more of us, and thoughts about the beach and idle afternoons enjoying the sun, sand and water will be at an end. When the end comes here in New England, it arrives with an air of finality.
When Labor Day weekend hits us, that is the end of summer. We will then be made to wait nearly 9 months until the next part of the seasonal cycle brings us back again where we most like to be. Despite the rain, some people fell in love this summer. Some fell out of love. Some got sick and some died. Some were born and on and on and on.
We haven’t yet bid a final farewell to summer. That will come next week.