It's over

Last night it frosted. The first frost has always signaled the end of summer to me. Sure the calendar and temperatures have said it's been over for some time, but in my spirit I always held onto it until that first frost. Indian Summer may still appear, but it too is only a glimpse of what we lost.

I think summer is the best season. (No, Kimmy, this post isn't a joke aimed at you. I'm quite serious.) Summer is the season that makes our lives function and meld together. It's the one season that provides and restores and renews more than any other. Some of the reasons I think summer is best...

• Without summer we would never get to enjoy the garden bounty such as tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, sunflowers, sweet corn, all of which wouldn't grow without the hot yellow sun of summer.
• Summer is the season of our childhood. It's the season where all the happy activities we loved as children happened. (All the things we'd love to do now but are either too self-conscious to enjoy or not willing to make time for.)
• Fall and Spring may be prettier seasons but are so because Summer makes them. A never ending Spring would turn everything into a swamp and those blossoms would never turn into the colors of Fall without the heat of summer producing the healthy leaves.
• Two word's-- longer days.
• Summer provides time and temperature for the majority of sports.
• A beer never tastes as good as it does with friends during summertime.
• Intense heat may be uncomfortable but intense cold is painful. (There are more cold-related deaths each year than heat-related. I think that says a lot.)

I could go on, but I'm sure everyone has their own special things they love that are encouraged by the season of summer. Like I said, this isn't a joke post or an attempt at spirited debate; I simply want to express my sadness that this season I love has gone away. It seemed so short. It's gonna be a contemplative day.