Summer Ends

As it does every year. There's a slight chill in the air, even during the day. And it smells different, a bit fresher, crisper. The sun is not as warm. It is getting darker, earlier, already. All of a sudden, summer seems over. And it is not yet Labor Day. I used to absolutely adore the beginning of fall, and all that would portend....... new school clothes, supplies, class schedules, activities. Football. All that. Now, the end of summer brings with it a tinge of sadness. The shorter days that eventually arrive. An empty house. The gray dampness that becomes winter. And stays winter for oh so long. Summer goes out quietly, ever so softly, but quickly, it seems. One day, you are on the beach in a towel, the next, walking briskly wrapped in a sweater. It's a difficult time, this last week of summer. I suspect it always will be. Remembering......wanting to leave that time behind, yet wanting to keep it, safe. Wanting it to be over, this limbo end of summer time, but wanting to hang on. Bittersweet, when summer ends.