To be honest, I hate to see summer end. I am not the one to post memes about long cool nights, hoodies, campfires, and hot cocoa. I love the summer. I love the long hot days, the sound of the cicadas in the trees, big sips of sweet tea and crunching the ice that sneaks past my lips. I love running on my trail in the summer, watching the flowers bloom and the bugs flitter about. I love trying to outrun the horseflies. I don’t love the horseflies. Those suckers hurt when they bite, but I do love to outrun them.
I spent the first part of my life in one long continuous summer, just a few miles from the beach, really a simple bike ride. I never knew a winter day or a fallen leaf. It was always summer. The beach was the same in December and July. Warm and consistent. That’s summer to me. That’s the feeling of my youth.
I felt the slightest bit of sadness on my trail this week. The shadows are growing longer, a few more leaves have littered my way. I didn’t see any horseflies, although I won’t shed a tear for them. The light is fading. Soon we will be turning the clocks back or forward, I never remember which and it will be dark out even earlier. The park will close when it gets dark and I will miss my trails for a while. I won’t be able to get there after work in time. I will have to just go on the weekends. Even then, I probably won’t since it will not only get darker earlier, but colder.
The cold and dark will have their time and I will retreat back into the cave of my home. Living in one long summer for the first half of my life, I never appreciated the dark. It has its time, too. I fought it back for a long time. Now I just begrudgingly welcome it.
I’m watching the trail change right before my eyes. The leaves in the trees thin, I can see deeper into the woods. The flowers fall. The animals recede into the shadows, the little fawns that I’ve watched grow, catching glimpses of them all summer in the forest as I run by, are losing their spots, they look like awkward teenagers.
The trail is changing. Preparing. Making a way for the next season. I can feel that change is in the air.
deconstructingdoctor.com 
Meanwhile we are waiting for ours. It’s Spring here.
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Keep me posted!!
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This was a lovely personal perspective on seasonal change, and how humans can easily be influenced by changes in the environment. Reading this made me think a lot about why I enjoy walking so much, but I admit to being a fair weather person most of the time!
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Maybe a walk on a trail as the weather cools will bring me out of my funk.
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On a related note, I hate the time changes. It’s easier now that I’m retired and can mostly ignore clocks altogether, but it’s still enough to upset the natural order of things.
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Completely agree it is so disorienting
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When you live in Texas, like me, you’re glad to see summer go! 🥵
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I totally understand!!
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In all my years of running I never ever outran a horsefly. And you’re right, they do hurt. I made quite the picture, I’m sure, running while flailing my arms around over my head. That was a lot of years ago, but I remember. On a more serious note, yes it’s hard to let summer go, even for us non-runners. I think you are right to not fight it though, that only causes weeks or months of angst. Let the fall be, it’s beautiful. Let the winter be, it can be beautiful too. Spring will be back and all te wonder and beauty will push back up from the ground and you’ll be running your trails in no time.
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I have definitely been outrun by the horesfly😂 you have put it beautifully. Just let it be❤️ I will embrace the trail all the more when I get back to it!!!
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