summer descrescendo
on the end of summer
August is one long Sunday.
Summer turns Boston into a different animal entirely. An entire population springs up, basking in the sun. Friends are taking weekend trips to see people who had previously only been vague characters in anecdotes.
Even amongst the heat waves, there is still the sense that we northeasterners are people destined for hibernation. This season is only so wonderful because it is unique. In August, everyone is savoring that last bite of a summer breeze, the smell of summer rain on the pavement, and the feeling that you know your neighbors a little bit more than you used to.
August is tinged with sadness. It drums up that haunted dread that it won’t be like this forever. Next year, it will appear, maybe a few degrees hotter and a little more unbearable.
September 1st is hell in Boston, but it means a change is coming! The college students will be back, invigorated by a lust for life and the beautiful feeling of shelter that school can often provide.
Streets will be filled with mattresses (Recycle them properly, people!), rats, and the same Wayfair dresser everyone and their mom have. People will be cursing each other out, laying on their horns, but also helping move couches up flights of stairs and imagining the possibility of a new life in a new apartment.
While I’m putting roots in my newly adult life, everything still feels so impermanent. 23 feels like constant flux and wavering certainty. It also comes with immense pride. August has come again and is slipping through my fingers, as it promises every year.
Summer is for last-minute plans, one extra drink to keep the conversation going, reading books outside (like the olden days!), and romanticizing everything (#fallinloveagainandagain).
There is wistfulness in the seasons’ coming and going in their natural ebb and flow. It’s comforting to change my Target birds every 2-3 months. To return the sweaters to their rightful place in the closet and whip out my doc martens.
Commence the long, lazy march towards winter. I’m grateful for what summer has given me.
really relevant recommendations
Go outside for lunch while you still can!
This Gumdrop fidget / stress ball
Amtrak Northeast Regional Quiet Car but people actually are quiet and you can read and watch your shows in peace
Decameron on Netflix
Oh Mary! — hottest ticket for gays on bway atm
Allston Christmas shopping
playlist of the week:
It's a bit of funk, a bit of acoustic indie. If you only listen to one song, listen to Aftertaste by Katie Gavin from MUNA. Her solo album is at the top of my anticipated albums for the second half of the year!