In a bit of a tizzy

Summer is rounding the turn into the home stretch, alas, and starting its sprint to the finish. All that stuff you were supposed to take care of over the long lazy summer? Which part of “now” don’t you understand?

If you live in a college town like me, it is in the process of doubling in size. You change your driving routes around town to avoid left turns across traffic. You circumnavigate the downtown blocks to cross the village. The wait for takeout pizza is suddenly extreme.

And returning students are in that week-long sweet spot between summer jobs, parental inhibition and putting on the yoke of academic labor. They travel in loud packs late into the night. You might find stuff on your lawn in the morning.

If you’re in business, it might feel like the first deep breath you’ve taken since the end of May. The last week of August is when the customers return to San Juan Capistrano—I mean Potsdam—each year. If you’ve survived the summer, you’ll make it through the rest of the year.

If you’re a summerer up here, you’re probably making what I call the Goodnight Moon tour, revisiting favorite spots to say, “Goodnight lake, goodnight dock, goodnight motor that never wants to start.” You’re going for one last cone at Donnelly’s, one last hike to the summit.

Gardens and gardeners are accelerating toward the harvest. Wood-splitting muscles are getting their annual workout. Everybody is in a bit of a tizzy, on a bit of a tear.

But it’s OK; the rush will end, and things will return to their other normal, when the normal of summer will seem like a dream–a sweet, sweet daydream over coffee looking out the office window.

Tags: listeningpost