One Thing or Another: Cooler Heads (Hello September)

By Mark McNease

It’s always One Thing or Another… a lighthearted look at aging, life, and the absurdities of it all.

I’m not alone in my preference for seasons. Most people have their favorites, and at least one they put up with because they have no choice.

I’m not a summer person, and when my time comes to buckle up and speed away from this crazy planet on whatever form of transportation the afterlife provides, I will depart having never liked the hot season. I tell myself it’s my Viking blood, although I can’t say I have any. Ancestry holds no interest for me whatsoever—and I’m adopted, so whose ancestors would I research anyway?

I’m not alone in my preference for seasons. Most people have their favorites, and at least one they put up with because they have no choice. For me it’s when we’re closest to the sun and farthest from a parka. When June arrives in earnest I know the humidity can’t be far behind, and with it the heat that amplifies its discomfort. If you’ve ever wondered what meteorologists mean when they offer the ‘feels like’ temperature, it’s the moisture, the dew point, that awful stickiness only a powerful air conditioner can neutralize, and only when you stay inside. Walk out the door on a hot, humid summer day, and that refreshing coolness is forgotten in an instant. Ovens are dryer, and at least you can make dinner with them. Speaking of ovens … don’t. When summer is blazing, my rule at  home is no cooking that requires heat of any kind. It’s possibly the best thing about those record-setting hot temperature days.

I’m not a beach person, either. I go because my husband enjoys it, and a walk on a nice boardwalk is some consolation when you can fry an egg on the sand. It’s also usually cooler at the beach. Provided I’m tucked under the shade of a large umbrella, I can get through it. Always with a sunburn the next day. Always feeling fried.

Our garden also offsets the unpleasant aspects of summer. I was a big city dweller for many years. Creating and sustaining a sizable vegetable garden is one of the things I consider an accomplishment since we adopted the country life.

The good things about summer for me are the things that lessen its severity: swimming pools, powerful air conditions, closed car windows with icy air blowing in my face, and the extra light from long summer days. I won’t list any bad things, because being alive another summer is so much better than the alternative. But there are reasons I welcome the cooler weather, and somewhere around mid-September I begin to trust that the worst of the heat is gone. Soon the scarecrows will be out. The leaves will fall in ever-grater numbers, treating us to a display of color unique to parts of the country where seasonal change is this distinct. I’ll bring out the sweaters and sweat shirts, and eventually the long johns. And I’ll dream of it getting warm again so I can stop shivering in the cold. But for now, as summer politely steps aside for fall, I’m enjoying my favorite time of year.

Mark McNease is the author of ten novels, two short story collections and six produced plays. He was the co-creator of the Emmy and Telly winning children’s program Into the Outdoors. He currently lives in rural New Jersey with his husband and two cats. He can be found most days at MarkMcNease.com