FEATURE STORY
It’s October.
Already.
And it’s 90 degrees.
Still.
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Every year, most of us that are native to the area where I live are longing for fall breezes and temperatures. My, goodness. We’ve been planning for it since early August, when we’re all just “done” with summer. After all, summer sort of started in late April. And by now, when it should be sweater weather, we’re still sweating as we put out our pumpkin décor. And quite frankly, it just angers us!
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I feel like I’m in a perpetual state of longing for the next thing. When I return home from a wonderful vacation, I’m ready to start planning for the next one. When one holiday comes and it’s over, it’s on to the next. Stores even realize this longing that we all have and they make sure to have their shelves lined with the next holiday way in advance. Before we even get a chance to enjoy our coats and scarves here in Central Texas, there will be swimsuits on the racks at Target. This too, angers me! Anger. That’s a strong word, but I think it best describes how I feel when I see the sunscreen and bikinis, while we’re enjoying the few weeks we have of winter by the fire…
Alas, though, this is the state we all live in…no matter if we reside in a climate that listens to the seasonal calendar or does its own thing. The weather has been wacky all over for the past few years, due to whatever name the weather guys want to give it. And, as many like to report, we can have all four seasons in the course of one week! Which is exactly the time of year we’re entering into right now…
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And yet, there’s this longing, this ache, for it to be the season it’s supposed to be. When the calendar says October, it’s supposed to be pumpkin patch weather, and we’re supposed to enjoy the hayrides and corn mazes with cool temps, not in our shorts and flip flops! When January rolls around, we here in Central Texas want to savor the falling temps, only whiplash! – there it comes again – those warm days scattered in and among the freezing nights. It’s enough to drive a girl crazy, when it comes to fashion!
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So why do we always long for what’s next? I suppose we become dissatisfied with what’s now…especially if the season lingers too long, like summer does here. And I have a good friend in Minnesota who longs for spring and summer because winter is long and frightful and depressing!
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I’ve been thinking a lot of about “today” and how if I could just be still and enjoy today, not wonder about yesterday, or pine or long for tomorrow, I’d be a lot more content. If I could learn and train my mind to wake up grateful for another sunrise, instead of wishing for rain, I wouldn’t be disappointed so often. If today I’d realize that there’s beauty in every part of it…even in the lingering heat…I’d go to bed with a full heart at the beauty of each day I’d been given.
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Longing for the next thing is wearisome, isn’t it? I mean, of course, we long for awaited joys like the birth of children, weddings and birthdays, and all of the celebrations. It would be silly to say that longing is a bad thing. In fact, I’m longing for the weekend right about now!
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But when longing for tomorrow prohibits the happiness of today, it’s a sad existence and one that produces depression. Maybe depression is a strong word, but it’s rooted in dissatisfaction with today that sends us into a lowered mood that affects how we act and treat those around us, and even how we feel about ourselves. And weather can cause all of that? You betcha. As well as longing for what was, what might be if we had this or that, or what we might never have because life is hard.
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As I’ve been training my mind to note the good in each day, I’m finding that it’s a practice I have to exercise every single morning. It’s actually just as important as physical exercise or eating properly, this idea of noting today instead of longing for tomorrow.
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This morning it’s a cool 63 degrees and I’m going to head out and smile, even though I know it will be 90 degrees later this afternoon. And I’m going to tell myself that this is a good day to be alive, tomorrow is not even promised, and yesterday – well it’s gone and never to return. And that ache in my body for the season to look more like autumn, I’m going to squelch it out with enjoying autumnal activities no matter what the temperature says. Pumpkins, candles, and even sweaters…if I want to.
Because, longing only makes the heart ache.
It’s what I do today that satisfies and settles the soul.