[Seasons: Summer XXII]
On the farm, summer is not one season but two: early summer, which is an extension of spring, and late summer, which hot and dry and barely resembles the tender growth and lush fields of June.
Early summer is full of anticipation. The tomato vines are tall but fruitless. The cabbage heads are taking shape but far too small to justify harvesting. The goat kids are bouncing around and stressing the capacity of the barn. Soon they will have new owners. The chicks and ducklings are all hatched but their wings are waiting for a few more mature feathers.
Late summer is another world it seems. Harvesting is in full swing. The tomatoes are drooping with supple fruit; the cabbages are bowling balls of vitamin A. The goats give milk generously and the barn suddenly feels three times more spacious.
Life is full of seasons-within-seasons and double-seasons, even triple-seasons. There are shifts and changes and transitions right in the middle of seasons. Summer is never just summer. (Nor is winter pure winter or fall only fall.) It’s really more than one season forced together for simplicity and generalization.
How do we live fully into the life season we’re in if we oversimplify our experience? If we generalize our particular place? If we cater to the expectations of others and the seasonal trends around us?
You are complex; so is the season you’re going through.
