Ahhhhh, September!

As it happens every year, it seems like a mere three weeks have lapsed since summer was just getting underway, rather than three months. And, here we are, with lovely September to carry us across the bridge between Summer and Fall.

Perhaps because Orion can now be seen in the wee hours of the morning, or the sun is sitting at a slightly lower angle than just a couple of weeks ago, or maybe I just have too much time on my hands, I perennially tend to reflect on the summer-that’s-been-so-far around the start of September. While school calendars and department store advertising would have us believe that summer ends on Labor Day, my first thought every year is one of a 10-year-old’s protest, “but summer isn’t over, yet! There’s still three more weeks!”

It seemed like many of us looked forward to this summer for a really long time and we’re not so much looking back as much as still in the moment while continuing to move forward.

Some momentous events were shared with friends who I call family, which most of us realize as ever-growing. While celebrations of the summer were numerous, many highlights for me took place at or around the String Cheese Incident shows at the Greek Theater in Berkeley, California, Horning’s Hideout in White Plains, Oregon and Red Rocks Amphitheater in Morrison, Colorado. Stunning, electrifying music, brilliant eye candy and the desire to dance harder than ever (it seemed to me, at least, much of the time) were surpassed only by beautiful friendships, both new and renewed, shared hospitality, witty and deep conversations and, of course, the love and laughter shared among many which resonate in my heart and in the soundtrack of my mind (I won’t go into reviews of the shows, per se, as they’ve been beautifully reviewed by Daev Brown and Deadesq Dave and many others).

On the other side of the country, I delighted in family time and with my family who are my friends among the majestic Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore at the 15th annual Dunegrass Festival, featuring Railroad Earth, Yonder Mountain String Band, Todd Snider, Greensky Bluegrass, Cornmeal, Back 40 and dozens more impressive bands. I can’t list them all, but you can check out this year’s lineup at www.dunegrassfestival.com.

In “the cave” at work, I find my mind wandering back to the 200-foot sand dune cliffs that drop off into lake Michigan, which takes on the color and clarity that many people associate with coral reefs in shallow, tropical waters. I think about the blessings I have in my parents and Grandmother and other relatives in the Great Lakes Region, and those, like me, who skipped like stones bouncing across the lake off to one coast or the other to live their own dreams.

Eventually, I’m metaphorically reminded that it’s good to bring the magic of the past, however recent, into the present and take it with us into the future, wherever our paths lead us to dance. In the near future the autumnal equinox will step us into fall, but not before offering us a day of equal light and dark. Balance. You know…..

So while I hold that “late July/August-sky” and the revelry that happened beneath it dearly in my heart and vividly in my mind, I’m looking forward to “October-sky-blue” as the sun inches it’s way lower in the sky and sunsets take on a different brilliance altogether. I look forward to the late-summer and fall harvests and free concerts and theater in the park, as well as the much-avoided task of prepping the garden beds for next spring’s herbs. By the time the first stems of oregano and chives are ready to be picked, it’ll be time to start thinking about festival season and longer days and warmer nights and planning for a musical hulahoopin’ faerie wing wearin’ freely freeking family reunion.

Ahhhhh…..Summer. It’s all a state of mind.

Happy September and Happy Autumnal Equinox!

(and happy baseball playoffs! May we get to party like it’s 1945!)

This article was originally drafted for the Happy Brigade Website: www.happybrigade.com

photo courtesy of Deadesq Dave & Larry F