“To say it was a beautiful day would not begin to explain it. It was that day when the end of summer intersects perfectly with the start of fall.” – Ann Patchett
Last Day Of Summer
This post is a couple days over due, but I can not believe the last day of summer has come and gone and we are now in autumn! It makes me SO sad! It flew by so unbelievably quickly. I am not ready to say good-bye, but perhaps that just means it was extra special? Not sure if that is true with how chaotic it at times felt, but I will go with that friends! It truly did feel like it passed at warp speed. And with July being so rainy and cold, it almost didn’t feel like we even really had a summer.
Not that I am complaining, but I guess I am a little bit. Much like the weather, the summer was a mix of high and low moments. And maybe that is what makes it extra special. I can’t say it was an amazing summer, as nothing extraordinary happened, but reflecting back on it, I am so grateful for even those little moments. For the beach days that did happen, even when they were filled with work for part of it, and the moments I got to snag with friends, however fleeting in-between.
Much like last year, due to the on-going pandemic, it wasn’t spontaneous or filled with trip after trip or family get togethers like years prior, but work wise I had more opportunities which I am forever grateful and always humbled for and by. This summer really cemented my purpose and passion and let me evolve and work with brands that I never thought I would ever get the chance to work with. It might have been a weird summer, but it as also a busy one, as well as an emotional one.
Closing of a chapter
I think this summer, especially felt poignant and bittersweet, and yes a little lackluster because I am also preparing to move again. And with it brings so many emotions, both good and bad. Don’t get me wrong, I am so incredibly excited, but this move brings so much change, even more then when I lived in New York, because the summers of years passed will be no longer, as I move farther away, and I am definitely reflecting on that.
Last week I walked Crescent (my favorite beach) and started getting emotional. Yay I wasn’t just emotional, I was bawling. Which for the record, I don’t usually cry in public, and when I do cry, I am an ugly crier. Guinness world record should call me because it is hideous. Yet, despite not leaving just yet, and knowing I would be back before I do, the water works started in part because I thought about how much I love Coastal Maine. As well as how it has healed me. It has been my safe place the last two years as life became a rollercoaster not just with the pandemic, but with in my family. It has been a tumultuous few years, and my escape has always been Maine. Even with the pandemic it was the one place I could go and not have to worry.
And while I will still have the ocean, heck it will be much closer, practically in my back yard, it won’t be the Maine Coast (which is not good or bad, because I will make new memories) which is truly special, and one of a kind with its weathered coast that has stood since longe before the dinosaurs. I am grateful for every wave that I have been able to witness crash along its rocky shores and the lessons it has taught me which is that much like nature, humans DO weather the storms and we DO make it through.
New Chapters
With the changing of seasons it is normal to be reflective. For me, it isn’t just the ending of a season and the beginning of a new one, it is also the beginning and ending of chapters. My summer began early in Maine and it ended with me right back where I began, in Ogunquit, appreciating Maine’s beauty while I worked. A full circle moment as I close out my time as a New Englander. As summer ends and so much change is on the horizon I am reminded of a song that has become my anthem the past few weeks called “No Rain,” by Jeremy Camp, and as the lyrics go
“If I never fall, If I never break. How can my heart change. How’s a garden ever supposed to grow if there ain’t no rain.”
I sound like a broken record, but life is so full of dualities. You need the bad because that teaches you to appreciate the good and the struggle DOES make you appreciate the successes so much more then if it is its handed to you. It is normal to be filled with conflicting emotion. And it is normal to be weary as well as excited, sad, but also happy. While I wasn’t ready for summer to end, and lets be real my heart as well as this blog are always in a constant summer state of mind, I am excited for what autumn has to bring, minus the cold weather. (see dualities!) This summer wasn’t just a rollercoaster, but so is life, and I am excited for the new adventures. I hope you all had an amazing summer and an even better Autumn!
How was your summer? What was something good that happened? are you excited for Autumn?
