August

Month by month

August is a month full of the golden glow of sunsets. It’s the last full month of summer where everything becomes slow as the tendrils of fall begin to emerge. Berries are bursting off the vine, evenings might finally be taking cooler turns, and that final rush to hang onto the days of languishing in the sun before the cycle turns over come autumn clings to our skin.

August is one of my favorite months. It holds many important dates in my own life, birthdays and anniversaries. It feels like it stretches on forever. Most of summer, the chaotic energy feels like wild roller coaster as we try to capture as much sun as we can. But in August, the month grows long as the days slowly begin to shorten. I’m never the same at the beginning of August as I am by the end.

As a kid, I went to the beach every year during the month of August. The sands were still hot and the skies were still blue, but there was a declining as the busy summer season started to come to an end on the little beach island town we’d visit. Licking slushie cups and hunting for seashells, our annual family beach vacation was an opportunity to slow down. To read thousands of pages of fantasy and romance under the umbrella. To hunt for turtle nests that might hatch in the moonlight. And to do my very best to not get sunburnt. (I usually failed in this regard.)

This August I won’t be visiting the beaches of the Carolinas, though my local Vermont swimming hole on a hot day hits a similar spot. Nevertheless, I’m taking a beach vacation mindset into my month ahead. Doing things because I want to do them and because they bring me joy to do. I’m setting intentions instead of goals, and letting the end of the summer be a fitting conclusion, rather than a sad ending.

How are you spending your August and the ends of your summer season?