Life Outside the School Calendar

Humans are unique animals in many ways. We buy blue things for boys and pink things for girls.We stare at boxes shooting light at us (my dog still doesn't understand this. Why would we watch TV when we could be playing with him?). We text (one of the perks of opposable thumbs). We also go to school. In fact, we let school mess with the innermost gears of our mental clocks. Anyone who's experienced June elation or September blues can attest to this. Summer always begins somewhere around June 20th, but as soon as that last school bell rings, guess what? It's summer. Insisting that it's not might earn you a playground beating. Also, what about that beautiful period from mid-August to mid-September, when the air is crisp but not chilly? Never mind the fact that everything is still pretty green and your neighborhood pool is still open. It's fall, which means homework and schedules and people telling you how to spend your time again. Just hearing those things probably makes your soul ache.

One of the most interesting things I've faced since graduating college is learning how to "live with the seasons" again. For a lot of people, fall began August 25th, but for me, it began September 22nd at 4:44 p.m. with the equinox. My whole outlook on seasonal changes has pretty much gone from this:

You know it's fall when:

• Stores run back-to-school commercials with creepily stylish/excited children.
• You wonder if you can get one more year out of your beat-up notebook with The Who logo on it. 
• Your procrastination on that summer reading list catches up with you. Now you have to go on a 3-day Puritan binge with The Crucible and The Scarlet Letter.
• You feel guilty for not finishing your summer bucket list. Reading Anna Karenina and building the Taj Mahal out of index cards will have to wait until next summer. 

To this:

You know it's fall when:

• Not having air conditioning doesn't make you felonious anymore.
• Breathing feels like taking a cool drink (for an idea of North Carolina summers, imagine a hot, wet towel being thrown at your face every time you walk outside).
• You don't have to give your dog medicated heat rash baths anymore (I'll miss having him smell like oatmeal conditioner though).
• The moon is brighter.
• You smell the pumpkin cookies you bought and the smoke from other people's fires as you drive home from the store.
• Halloween Oreos (this is by far my favorite).

However, it still pains me a little to see summer go, even though it makes no difference in my work schedule whatsoever. I know people who graduated years ago and still get sad when late August roles around. For as much educating as it claims to do, school really screws with your psyche as well. Let's not let it ruin this lovely time of year completely.