This may not be the last weekend of the summer, but it certainly feels that way. Most of the summer visitors have left, the weddings are all behind us now, and the festivals – returning after a two year absence – have come and gone. It is so hot and humid that we are actually looking forward to the imminent two weeks of fall before the winter rain (yes, we know that the rain will quickly follow, and we’re actually looking forward to that!).
The summer is slowly winding down, and winding up… and we are slowly returning to what used to be our usual routines. Chores around the house that have been put off for weeks and weeks are now the focus of our Saturdays, and weekends aren’t as stuffed with nail and hair appointments (did I mention the summer series of weddings?), or sequences of brunch, lunch, coffee, dinner, drinks with different groups of friends and cousins for quick catch-ups. My schedule no longer contains arrival and departure dates, and the names of my ‘local’ friends are slowly reappearing for some of our usual get-togethers, which are, as always, suspended during the busy summer.
It has been a good summer, a feast of good times and fresh fond memories, and I am grateful that I am leaving this table satisfied and full. And as things slowly return to some form of ‘normal’, I can’t help but wonder what our non-summer Lebanon will have in store for us. Don’t think of it as pessimism… perhaps it’s remnants of old habits, the little anxiety as the start of the school year approaches. Today, however, I want to focus on the other part; the equivalent of the brightness of brand new stationary, the smell of brand new text books, and the running pool of which of my friends will be in my section. What I am focusing on today is the excitement of the reset button, the end of the summer ushering in a new year full of new possibilities.
January 1st may get all the parties, but if you pay close attention, the real new year starts as the summer ends.
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