Why I (Irrationally) Never Want Summer to End

With August comes many changes, the most notable being children and adults alike heading back to school and cooler weather. In my house, not only does my daughter go back to school, but I do as well.  I also work part time at a youth center as a tutor to gain experience in the education field. With school and a part time job on top of my full time job, as well as Chloe's activities (acro, cheer, volleyball, and Girl Scouts.... Thank goodness for my amazing husband for his help with towing her everywhere!), August through May is very busy in my household! For this reason, I was feeling some start-of-fall stress today. I was thinking of the things that I wouldn't be able to do and quickly came up with reasons why it was OK that this is happening.

My first irrational thought was "oh no! I can't workout outside as much anymore!" Wrong. If anything, the mild fall weather is more inviting for outdoor workouts. I have been in the gym non-stop for the better part of my summer. Only recently did I begin running again. The main reason being that I prefer running outside versus on a treadmill and it was just too hot outside for me to consider running (I'm a wuss, I know). The cooler weather means less humidity here in Kansas, less heat beating down on me, and more outside running time. I also LOVE hiking and biking the trails near here and it seems that I just don't do that at all during the summer months. I know I haven't yet this summer.

The next irrational thought I had was "we are going to have fewer daylight hours once summer's over." That's only kind of true. The summer solstice usually begins somewhere between the 20th and 23rd of June. The solstice brings the longest daylight hours of the year for us. So, *technically* the daylight hours have been getting shorter and shorter since the solstice this last June. And at any rate, I'm in bed and asleep by eight o'clock most nights, so even though I'll miss the extra sun, I'm really not missing those extra hours. If anything, they're kind of annoying to me since I'm trying to sleep with some light in my room (thank goodness for blackout shades!).

Then I thought about an outside activity that I love: Swimming. Namely, splashing in my in-laws' pool or sitting poolside, soaking up that sun that I love so much. Now I truly will miss that part of the summertime. I love being poolside or in the pool. There's something about the easiness of having a good book, a cocktail, and my kiddo laughing and having a blast that screams "lazy summer fun." In all honesty though, when I want to swim laps, I do it in the gym's pool. My in-laws' pool, albeit awesome, is round and doesn't have much room to swim productive laps.

My last irrational thought was out of pure vanity: Wearing dresses. I love dresses. Once it's warm enough, I throw on a dress and flip flops and I wear them until the weather forces me otherwise. I'm not a big dress person in the fall. It may have something to do with the cool chill up my skirt at any given time. Even with tights and boots, it doesn't have the same breezy appeal as a thin summertime dress. The funny thing though is I equally love fall fashion: scarves, jackets, boots, and skinny jeans. Writing this down actually makes me want the cooler weather so I can put on my new scarf that I bought on Tuesday.

While I reasoned with myself, I came up with reasons that fall is awesome. Fall is actually my second-favorite season, next to summer, of course. The turning of the leaves, the cool breezes, the fact that my birthday is technically in the fall.... Fall is pretty darn awesome. So while summer is great, I'm okay with it coming to a close... eventually. I would love maybe one more week of summertime weather. Then, when school and fall activities begin, the season can change and I'll be okay with that.

      Fall in Kansas is always gorgeous. 

    But the summer is so much more fun!