The Best of Summer 2022

Summer is officially over and in some weird cosmic way, the weather seems to have paid attention to the calendar. I looked at the weather for the week on Sunday and saw 80s planned right up until Thursday - the first day of fall. I really do believe in everything in its time, and those cooler days are feeling good. But I maximized on the last hot days left on the forecast. I drove with the top down on the VW. We went to the beach more than once. I took Duke out for ice cream and I drank my coffee on the deck. And for the record, if October gifts a single day of Indian Summer, I still have my beach bag packed in the trunk. 


But now I'm ready. Everything in its time. If this were 2006 and I was the type of girl to get a tattoo, maybe I'd get that on my wrist or ankle. It's worth remembering, but also I remember this girl I worked with at Applebees who got "Take a deep breathe" - mistake intended in this blog, but not on her body - and that's why I write things down on paper instead. No regerts!


Seriously though, this was such a wonderful summer, but changing of the season feels apropos right now as I feel like I'm on the brink of some change. I can't put my finger on it and of course, nobody knows the future, but something about this summer feels like closing the chapter of a book. A really nice book. 


***


May

Summer came in very slowly but surely this year, but you know, when you're coming out of the wintertime haze, even 60º feels just like heaven. If it was 59, I had the windows open and I think that's just about how I spent May. It was all prep work, like buying groceries for a long weekend. I was just getting everything in order to ensure that we could realllllly enjoy the summer. But instead of it being actual groceries, we bought a trampoline and a car. 


Pretty much as soon as the last of the snow finally melted, we got the trampoline which is easily one of our better investments even though Duke flatly refuses to bounce alone and also refuses to bounce with Ryan because he bounces him too high. So if you're wondering how I spent my summer, I was probably bouncing. 


The Best of Summer 2022 | www.biblio-style.com

The Best of Summer 2022 | www.biblio-style.com

The Best of Summer 2022 | www.biblio-style.com


June

The front end of summer feels so power packed. It's like clowns falling out of a toy car - totally chaotic and dangerously full. We're so antsy to do summertime things, that we fill every minute to the brim. 


I kept a bag packed in the trunk with all our beach things and could often be found in the kitchen at 5:01pm, tossing cans in a small cooler while Duke stomped out to the car with his flippers on. If we weren't at the beach, we were with friends, and even then, we were probably all at the beach. 


The Best of Summer 2022 | www.biblio-style.com

The Best of Summer 2022 | www.biblio-style.com

The Best of Summer 2022 | www.biblio-style.com

The Best of Summer 2022 | www.biblio-style.com


July

I think of the summer like a weekend. May is Friday day, June is Friday night. That's when you're excited because you've basically made it through the hard part of the week, but everything good is still in front of us. 


But July is Saturday. It's the best day to wake up to. Last night was fun, and we've still got all of tomorrow. But first, we have today, and it's going to be Saturday alllllll day long. 


I permanently moved outside. I set up my computer on the patio table and worked from the deck, and at night, I watched movies on the projector screen. I read on a wicker couch until I couldn't take the mosquitos anymore. We went on a nice long camping trip to the UP and saw Boyz 2 Men at the Cherry Festival. And of course, we were at the beach. 


The Best of Summer 2022 | www.biblio-style.com

The Best of Summer 2022 | www.biblio-style.com

The Best of Summer 2022 | www.biblio-style.com

The Best of Summer 2022 | www.biblio-style.com

The Best of Summer 2022 | www.biblio-style.com


August

The dog days. It's Sunday now, still early, so it's not quite time for the Sunday scaries, but they're coming. This is when I start getting frantic, knowing that my favorite season is coming to an end, and so I power-pack it. I try to recreate June all over again. 


I take Duke to the beach every single night and we swim until it's dark out. I remember that Michigan's Adventure is about to close for the season, so we venture down there and as a giant wave blasts me into a stranger in the wave pool for the billionth time, I consider taking off another day next week to do it again. 


We always go to the fair in August and this year, we've just finished reading Charlotte's Web, and so as we wander through the pig barn, Duke looks around for Some Pig. 


The Best of Summer 2022 | www.biblio-style.com

The Best of Summer 2022 | www.biblio-style.com

The Best of Summer 2022 | www.biblio-style.com

The Best of Summer 2022 | www.biblio-style.com

The Best of Summer 2022 | www.biblio-style.com

The Best of Summer 2022 | www.biblio-style.com

The Best of Summer 2022 | www.biblio-style.com


September

It's Sunday night. I'm fully frantic. The Sunday scaries are consuming me and I glare at anyone who says the words "PSL" in my vicinity. I avoid Target for all their Back to School aisles, and I unfollow people on Instagram for hyping fall. I can't right now. 


And I go to the beach. It ain't fall here, folks! 


The Best of Summer 2022 | www.biblio-style.com

The Best of Summer 2022 | www.biblio-style.com

The Best of Summer 2022 | www.biblio-style.com


Alas - Duke starts school and I can't ignore it anymore. I'm still wearing shorts and flip flops and ignoring PSLs and Instagram, but summer is winding down and fall is coming for me. 

I sign Duke up for soccer and replace the beach with the skate park. 

I don't have one of those first-day-of-school chalkboards, but I snap a picture of my big boy heading off to his first day of Kindergarten decked out in Spiderman everything (shirt, socks, backpack, lunchbox, etc). He hugs me tight when I walk up to the door of the elementary school, but bravely takes the hand of a teacher who walks him to his classroom. 

The Best of Summer 2022 | www.biblio-style.com

The Best of Summer 2022 | www.biblio-style.com


We're sliding into new routines and summer gradually falls away a little more every day. It gets cooler of course, but it's the small things that really anchor in the changing of the season. I laid a quilt on the bed two nights ago and roasted a chicken for dinner on Sunday afternoon. Ryan and I casually talked about turning on the heat like that isn't the biggest indicator of all. Summer is over. 


***


I am wistful. I am anxious. I wish everything didn't feel so goddamn fleeting all the time. 


But it does and I can't change it, so instead I'm leaning in. I'm lighting candles and wearing socks and I'm telling myself that cozy is nice too. Because it is - it really really is. Everything in its time. 



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