Summer Seems Like An Eternity Ago

Did you ever wonder if what you are thinking is shared by others or simply your own thoughts? The day after Labor Day needs a special name because maybe more than any other single day of the year it signifies this great transformation. We call Labor Day the end of the summer season because officially there is still two more weeks of summer before autumn arrives. However for the masses all traces of summer have pretty much ended and this is especially true if you have school-age children.

As I get older I seem to spend more time on this subject but it just amazes me how in that one day you go from what might be your summer routine to one that is all together different. Let’s say Monday had been a really nice day. Many would have gotten up in the morning and prepared for a day on the beach. Packed a cooler, loaded up the car with chairs, an umbrella, the kid’s accessories, etc. You spent several hours on the beach sitting with friends, swimming in the ocean, reading a book…all the things you had done many times over the previous couple of months. Then BAM you get up Tuesday morning and that all seems like an eternity ago because now you are in completely different mode. You’re getting the kids ready for a school day that includes soccer practice afterwards and you’re wondering how you can squeeze dinner into the equation. This is now the routine that dominates your life for weeks and months to come. That beach stuff which was in your car the day before is now packed away because regardless of how nice the weather is the weekends are filled with activities of a different kind.

There’s also the other side. On Monday you needed a beach badge to step onto the sand and there were lifeguards to protect you if you swam in what’s been a turbulent ocean. That badge checker is back in school so you don’t have to worry about paying to get on the beach but that lifeguard is a school teacher so he or she is not there to help if someone gets in trouble.

Another tell tale sign of this great transformation is the change in traffic patterns. Driving down Route 35 from Seaside Park to Point Pleasant Beach today is quite a bit easier and quicker than it was a week ago. However if you get behind school buses on some local road then your commute to work took twice as long as it did last week.

Welcome to the great transformation….am I the only one consumed with this?