Why summertime can pack its bags any time now

Photo by Stephanie Arndt

As a person who endures the demands of being a full-time student and part-time worker, summers are a much needed break. I enjoy a good trip to
Captain Sundae and spending almost every weekend going to the beach, like any Hollander should. However, as a person who worked for a majority of
the summer, even sugar-filled sundaes and salt-less water can’t hold me down from wishing it was fall already.

Maybe my impatience for fall’s arrival is from my walk home, where my eyes constantly spy the hints of a lovely reddeath flowing through leaves? Or perhaps it is only a longing for the crisp autumn air that
will permit me to stop compromising my adequate summer clothes with icy-cold classrooms and hot cottage rooms. Whichever it is, I don’t actually care. Fall has arrived in my mind, complete with Starbucks’ overrated
PSLs and my purchase of an ever-so-soft plaid shirt. Yes, I think I’m ready. Are you?

For those among us who are native Michiganders, it’s easy to know why fall is so dearly loved. For the rest of you, prepare for the best. I’m sure fall is probably nice where you come from, but I highly doubt it’s this good.

Writing this brings to memory the smell of damp, decomposing
leaves that sounds as if it shouldn’t be enjoyable, but is. There is the joy of getting all your friends together to gather around a fire and talk about how cold you are. Add the roasting of marshmallows (because the first idea when cold is to eat warmed sugar with a peanut butter cup
shoved in the middle), and you’ve got yourself a good night.

There are the nights where rain never ceases until it’s finally night and your plans for a bonfire are ruined. Although they can ruin plans, your body will be grateful for the rest that it didn’t know it needed. I am also grateful for rainy days that I can decide to forget homework and remember what it feels like to watch movies in a dark room with rain pattering against the window.

But most of all, I long for the days where I can walk on the sidewalks with a crunch beneath my feet and a crisp breeze flowing through my fleece that raises the dead, forgotten leaves into the air for one last dance in the wind.

Warm summer nights are soon to be replaced with a combination of rainy days and breezy weeks that will be among us just next Thursday. Let’s make the best of it until then, shall we?