Thursday, August 07, 2008

The last of summer is delight deterred by Retrospect

I like this seasonal grouping of poetry, lore and photos.

From my to-do list:

Backpack for Sean
Get school bus schedule
Buy socks for Liam
Work on yard — firebreak
Get materials for refinishing exterior logs on house
Revise chore routine
Order and stack firewood for winter

Recent days have seemed drenched in the long golden light of late summer. It is not even really late summer yet, but things are happening so fast. So many endings and beginnings; Liam’s first regular experience as a wage-earner this summer, his last year at college, Sean’s first year at school, the whole football thing. If you can feel nostalgia in present tense, that is where I am. Everything seems invested with meaning. This means I am having trouble keeping the house clean, because when things are invested with meaning, it seems to weight me down. Someone described the early days of pregnancy as “moving through molasses” and it is a bit that way now, though I am not pregnant. Life seems expectant and burdened both, though, and so in that way it is the same.