There are things about August that I love–Sunflowers, the delicious feel of warm sun on bare skin, spotted fawns, and long stems of brilliant Goldenrod.
Humidity and mosquitoes top my list of things I don’t love about August, but we were still fortunate not to have too many days of either pest. What lies between my love/don’t love lists is the subtle reality of the waning summer and tiny glimpses into fall. As the wild plums ripen to rosey-purple, some of the leaves begin to change their color also.
Black-eyed Susans grow underneath Ash trees that begin to drop yellow leaves like secret notes hinting at what’s to come.
August is a later rising morning sun casting shadows on a fallen log.
Whether hiking or biking or walking the dog, Sunflowers greeted us with their cheery countenance. The red-stemmed prairie Western Sunflower…
and the exuberant Maximilian.
The Blueberry bushes have slipped into their coat of many colors, ready for the cooler days and nights.
Swamp Milkweed provides delightful nectar for the Monarch Butterfly that will help sustain it for the long fall migration to Mexico.
Some days of August, with dripping humidity and no air conditioning, I literally wished away. This day cannot get over fast enough, I thought, even as I stared in the face of a dank night with tossing and turning in clammy sheets. I counted down the hours until a refreshing north breeze would sweep the southern heat and humidity back to its home. But as we got closer to September and the cooler nights reminded me that the warmth of summer was waning, I changed my perspective–this may be our last 85 degree day, I thought; I better enjoy it, humidity or no humidity. (Winter looms large in the calendar year of Central Minnesota!)
I remember how I changed my perspective during my third pregnancy. I had more morning sickness with our last child than the other two combined, but I held the thought that this was the last time I would have the extreme honor of bringing a child into the world, to love, to cherish, to teach, to let go. I never wished away a single day, as tough as some of them were. ‘You never miss the water until the well runs dry.’ Aren’t we humans funny that way? Maybe each of those wake-up calls are from the One Who Knows, sending us secret love notes hinting at what’s to come. We need to tune in to the subtle realities and tiny glimpses. We need to drink the sweet nectar of life to sustain us on our journey. We need to appreciate and not take for granted the things on our love/don’t love lists–including sunflowers and humidity.
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