So long summer, you’ve been far too short

I had to say good-bye to our neighborhood pool this week, and I could not believe our time together had already come to an end.

I wanted to give her a proper send off, so I popped over for an evening swim. The Erb Park Pool has been an especially good friend this year, waiting patiently while my granddaughter tested her waters, and then catching her faithfully each time she jumped in.

Erb eagerly waved in the little boys who came to visit, and always held a lane open when my mom arrived for her daily swim.

We were all sad to see the Erb Park Pool close for the year.

This final week of August is full of good-byes.

Last night, we went to our last minor league baseball game of the year and I thanked the Timber Rattlers for their graciousness too.

I know we shouldn’t favor one season over another. Each brings its own charms and challenges, and it isn’t fair to compare.

But, the truth is, I love summer more than all the others combined.

I love the way it summons my family home.

I like the way the summer sun warms up my muscles and makes them feel young again. I appreciate a good, honest sweat.

I enjoy the taste of summer – the slow drip of a coconut popsicle, the salty crunch of sweet corn, the berry gradient that rolls from straw, to blue, to rasp, to black.

Summer days stretch with such splendor you think they might never end, an embarrassment of riches that begins with the slow stretch of a golden sunrise and lasts until the green flash of sunset.

Summer nights twinkle with stars and fireflies.

I like the smells of summer — campfires, basil, jasmine, sunscreen and grilled burgers — and the way soft breezes carry those smells into the house.

I appreciate the sounds of summer — the happy chatter of kids biking past, music drifting from open car windows, the boing of the diving board, the whisper of leaves.

Fall brings its own brand of magic and I won’t disparage that.

But, man it’s hard to say so long to a season that seems so short!