This weekend my daughter brought her three friends down from Boston and we all had a great time. As they were packing to leave today, my daughter said, “Okay Mom, NOW you can write summer is over. It was too early last week.”
I smile thinking how desolate it was out here last Tuesday, with the school buses reappearing. I laugh to myself how she just refused to believe that and couldn’t bear to let go of summer. Today begins “football Sundays” and we are forced out of denial. The garden is in shambles. Huge tomatoes broke down the “trees” they grew on. The weather is overcast and very cool. The Patriots are beating the Titans 21-3 on tv. Tomato sauce is cooking on the stove. Yes, my daughter is right. NOW it’s over.
Denial is not always a bad thing. Sometimes denial protects us from such intense pain that would cause cardiomyopathy and gives us a chance to heal in a cocoon; insulated and safe. Then, slowly, just like football and homemade tomato sauce, gentle reminders invade our safe space and we slowly crawl out and begin to accept what we can no longer deny.
And so, as another day goes by, fall has invaded the space occupied by summer, the scarecrow is all that’s left to remind of what once was, and …I have written.
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