PUBLISHER’S COLUMN: THE FALL OF SUMMER

For many, the reality that summer is drawing to a close is an unsettling prospect. Fleeting are those long daylight hours, those backyard barbecues, the relaxation that comes with camping and boating and the childhood freedom that even adults can still feel. While I harbor some of those thoughts, I’m ready to say goodbye to the days of summer and welcome a new season. Fall is, after all, my favorite of all the months.

I tend to wax poetic when it comes to autumn and sensationalize the season some. But it’s hard not to. The cooler evenings allow for windows to be opened — “Good sleeping weather,” as KELOLAND meteorologist Jay Trobek has been known to say — the beauty of the season is displayed on bright trees and in golden fields and there’s little better than digging into a bowl of chili and putting on the football game.

Speaking of football, there are Friday night lights to get excited about, particularly this year in Freeman and Marion thanks to the energy surrounding Phoenix football and the prospect of what is to come in the years ahead.

But, like any changing season, fall also represents a transition and the opportunity for renewal in a new time. This summer has been hard for a number of reasons, not only for me, but for a lot of people I’ve talked to. The political climate, concerns about the economy and strong division over social matters make for a nasty cocktail, and when you throw in the worry of raising children right in these hard times — well, it can be downright unnerving.

I just had a conversation with a contemporary who wondered out loud if the challenges that go along with being a 40-something is just the way it is.

“I don’t know,” I said. “Maybe it’s just always been that way.”

Maybe.

Yet I feel hope.

For me, last week’s announcement that Schmeckfest is returning next March and this week’s news that the Swiss Choral Society is gathering once again for a November concert is just what the doctor ordered. And the fact that the Main Street business district is close to opening reflects something new and exciting, that has been anticiapted and worked for for a long time. I feel like all of it is representative of an exhaustive hill that has been climbed, only to expose a beautiful new valley ahead, and in that valley lies all that is to come — all that will be good again.

Wishful thinking? Maybe. But positive thoughts are required in challenging times, even if those positive thoughts are forced, and I choose to approach the new season with a bounce in my step and a smile on my face. Maybe it will catch on.

Yes, winter may be coming, but better days are ahead.