We sit here now in the twilight of Summer and I have to admit, I am one of those kinds of people that cannot wait for Summer to end and the cooler days of Fall to take hold. Maybe it is because being born in October I am a ‘Fall baby,’ maybe it’s because I tend to sweat like a dripping faucet whether I was skinny as a rail or as huge as a overfilled water balloon, but there is something about the cooler weather that appeals to me.
It might also do with the fact that as far as air conditioning goes, cost and the effectiveness of the air conditioning unit in my apartment means that Willis Carrier is not the great inventor others think he is by bringing AC into existence, not as long as the only tastes of his marvel I get is when in various public areas.
Schuyler Skaats Wheeler and Philip H. Diehl are my true heroes, for as much as I am forced to dismiss air conditioning as something out of reach, without the electric fan Summer would be even more sticky and unbearable, and I draw a limit to my being behind the times to the late 19th century. Beyond that, you have to hang water soaked reeds in the windows to try and stay cool or perhaps poke holes in walls for air flow, waving a manual fan at my face all day, or switching my current mattress for filled with corn husks…needless to say none of these ideas exactly fills me with joy.
Now that does not mean I hate Summer completely, after all I have spent most of my life in Illinois, and have seen more snow in real life than most born and bred Texans have seen in Christmas films and television commercials. For Winter temps to be less than ten below zero is uncommon in my meteorological past, but not impossible by any means.
Summer is indeed where all the exciting stuff is supposed to happen, from Summer romances to Summer vacations from school filled with more fun and less responsibility, but for me it always seemed that more occurred in the Fall months or during Winter. If anything my internal seasons are reversed, as Summer always seems to close chapters of my life, not open them.
I know I am not alone in this as I have seen many people prefer the Fall and even Winter (although not as many who will speak ill of the golden laden Summertime openly), some for the cooler air, some because they love Halloween and the others holidays coming soon once it rears its spooky head.
Others still will call us crazy, Summer has longer days (on this I agree), warm air full of promise and life, days that come to mind from Summers long gone, but there is something about the Fall that no other season seems to match for me, and as August winds down around us, I know it will soon be here.
