TheBanyanTree: Slip, Sliding Away

[Margaret R. Kramer]

The dogs of August are shivering.  A wicked cold front ripped through
earlier this week and destroyed the tiny bit of summer we had.  It’s not
even the middle of August, and I already have the furnace on.

It’s dark now, too, when I get up in the morning.  There is no early dawn
light to guide me through my house as I go into the kitchen to get that pot
of coffee going and then slide open the back patio door to let the dogs
outside.

It’s football weather,  State Fair weather.  Early fall weather with that
sensuous chill that makes me want to snuggle as close to Ray as I can.  I
think of red plaid flannel sheets, orange pumpkins, and brilliant gold
leaves.

But it’s only August!  What happened to swimming at the beach and feeling
the hot sand burning my feet?  What happened to spending a hot summer day on
a fishing pier with a pole dangling over the water and the sun baking my
back?  Or slurping a cold lemonade after cutting the grass?

Our summer disappeared in the cold Canadian air.  I’m in fall mode, the
beginning of school mode, a start over again mode, a mode almost as intense
as January resolutions.

I bought new clothes.  I bought more books.  I need to gather together our
winter coats and take them to the dry cleaners.  I need to wash our mittens,
hats, and scarves and have them ready for
the first snow, which looks like it might be next week!

What happened to riding the trails on my bike?  Walks after dinner?  Reading
a beach book on our deck?

This wasn’t a summer to remember.  Perhaps that’s why I’m welcoming the cool
wind of early fall.  Our house is half decluttered, waiting for sale
preparation next spring.  I can see that after Christmas we’ll be busy
getting this house into tip top shape.

I didn’t want to spend the few nice weekends we had going through the stuff
in our house for the garage sale.  What a dreadful task to do when the sun
is finally high in the sky and calling me to play under it.  So the garage
sale is half organized.  Books, dishes, old vinyl albums, and furniture sit
in semi-organized piles in the garage waiting for homes.  The garage sale is
on hold until spring.  But the fall organizing mode is in me now and I’ll
begin the process of going though my stuff before it gets too cold.

My gardens are weedy.  I usually have beautiful gardens, but they didn’t
turn out this summer.  I was late planting, waiting for warm weather, and
then just didn’t do much with the gardens.  I think this cool summer even
took away the flowers’ inspiration.

I gained weight.  We didn’t have the warm summer to melt away winter fat,
and my appetite increased for winter fare; crackers, chips, cookies and
cakes.  In my ambitious fall mode, I joined Weight Watchers last week, and
have managed to stay within my points totals.  I haven’t weighed myself yet,
but I can tell my clothes are just a bit looser and my body doesn’t feel so
bloated.  Eating sensibly again has helped me straighten out my jumbled
thoughts.

And the summer stayed cool enough for me to wear my new power suit for three
interviews at the same company.  Thank goodness I interviewed with different
people, so no one knew I was wearing the same clothes.  The interviews went
well, but my phone remained silent while I hovered around it like an anxious
teenager waiting for the boy of her dreams to call.  In frustration, I sent
out several resumes to other companies to offer my services.

I made the call myself.  They liked me, but felt I was weak in one area (the
HR guy didn’t tell me what area it was), so they wanted to wait until they
have this contract for sure, maybe by next month.  Is it a nice brush-off?
Perhaps.  But I’ll call next month.  I have to look at this in a positive
way – I made it through three interviews and bought a new suit!  And maybe,
just maybe, I’ll hear from those other companies.  Summer is almost over and
businesses might be moving into a hiring mode again.  Meanwhile, I’ll try to
keep my job searching mode burning.

After the clouds left behind from that ferocious cold front cleared away, I
could see the crescent moon edging closer to Venus as I drove to the gym in
the early morning.  My car’s heater was on, warming me, reminding me to take
advantage of this late summer chill, tap into its energy, and begin my
transition into fall.

Margaret R. Kramer
margaretkramer at comcast.net

http://www.polarispublications.com
Be a star!

http://www.bpwmn.org
Business and Professional Women of Minnesota

If you break your neck, if you have nothing to eat, if your house is on
fire, then you got a problem.  Everything else is inconvenience.
~Robert Fulghum